M&M Service (was QDNS 4 OS X)

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For anyone listening to previous threads re: M&M service, second keys etc,
I just wanted to pass on my own opinion and experiences of M&M:

We've used QDNS since the beginning (1996? 1997? I don't remember any more)
and have migrated up thru the versions, including transitioning from MacOS
to Linux/BIND.

Despite what others may have experienced, we have ALWAYS had good and
prompt support from M&M, even before we had a maintenance contract for the
software we've had (and were buying upgrades ad-hoc).

When the MacOS second-key ("secondary-only server no longer allowed in
3.x") issue came up, we did as requested and mailed M&M and got our second
keys promptly.

During our (staggered) upgrade to Linux servers (which was co-incident with
renumbering our network and physically adding/running extra servers) M&M
took account and honoured previous purchase costs when we added additional
licenses because, at the time of asking, certain quantity bundles (e.g.
"twin" licenses) were available but we actually staggered our purchases -
they didn't actually need to do that considering that we were adding more
servers (i.e. running two old, two new simultaneously) not just upgrading
existing ones. Yet they allowed us to turn a single linux purchase into a
"twin" one rather than making us purchase another single. Nice, and
appreciated.

Even though support was great before, since we've had a maintenance
contract with them it's been outstanding: every time I email and ask for
something (sales Q's or support Q's) - which is rare I admit - I get a
usually get a *phone call* from them, usually within the hour (if not
within minutes) - all the way from Iceland of course - to cover the issue.
Lots of 'usuallys' there - I can't recall any other variation off hand
though. NO OTHER SUPPLIER WE USE FOR ANYTHING DOES THAT as far as I can
recall. Hardware suppliers with whom we have "4 hour" contracts, for
example, always seem to take those four hours... and even then it doesn't
always mean the problem is solved.

I made a query to M&M about 4.0 multi-user licensing and was immediately
provided demo keys to used to test (as it was a few days before M&M started
sending out final keys for maintenance people). Our final 4.0 keys turned
up right on schedule as promised.

QDNS and M&M have got to be one of, if not the, most stress-free bits of
software and suppliers we deal with. Because of that, it's only fair I say
so.

What I'm saying is: yes, someone somewhere will often have a problem with
any supplier (it happens), but implying that's how the supplier generally
operates if just damn wrong if you don't have evidence to back it up. I
wouldn't usually go to anywhere near these lengths to praise a supplier,
but in M&M's case, despite never having met these guys, after being a user
of their software since it first came available and basically never having
had any real issue I think it's worth giving these guys a bit of praise as
it's deserved. I don't think one bad experience for someone (which may or
may not be a true account) should detract anyone else in this particular
case.

Just the opinion of an unrelated-to-M&M yet happy user.

(stick the cheque in the post guys... Guys? Guys????
Helloooooo??????.... ;-)

SB.

Scott Bartlett
BTA Limited, 100 High Street Wandsworth, London SW18 4LA, United Kingdom
e: scott@bta.com v: +44 (0)20 8871 4240 f: +44 (0)20 8871 4584

Network Consultancy and Support for Windows 9x/NT and MacOS.
Internet connectivity, solutions, and business services.
http://www.bta.com.

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