Lotus Rock Star

Category None
Update March 19: Still working on these. After Lotusphere, all our good intentions to do this in February were dashed by a slew of client projects with tight deadlines. So hang on, we're still doing this, just not sure exactly when. -Rob

January 14, 2008 - Overland Park, KS
In a surprise announcement, SNAPPS (Strategic Net Applications, Inc.) today outlined plans to convert its entire AnyPlace™ line of products for IBM Lotus Quickr and its predecessor, IBM Lotus QuickPlace, to free licenses. The products have been in the market as paid licenses for between three and six years and have been successful in that time. The products are designed enhance the experience and productivity with IBM Lotus Quickr and QuickPlace for developers, administrators and end users. They are listed below with their previous pricing levels including maintenance:

• AnyPlace™ Designer, a Dreamweaver extension to ease development of custom themes ($600/developer) FREE
• AnyPlace™ SiteMap, a floating control panel for simple navigation of a specific place ($2,400/server) FREE
• AnyPlace™ ServerMap, a floating control panel similar to SiteMap, but for an entire server with favorite places, admin controls and grouping ($4,800/server) FREE
• AnyPlace™ Administrator, the flagship product in the line that provides a complete web-based admin client for QuickPlace and Quickr server administrators ($1,790/server) FREE

Each of the products works with multiple versions of QuickPlace and already works with Quickr 8. In addition, several updates are being made to the products to allow deeper integration with Qucikr 8; those enhancements will be completed in Q1 2008. The free version of each of the four products will be downloadable from the SNAPPS Quickr Templates site (QuickrTemplates.com) in mid-February, once SNAPPS' software developers have removed the license key code and completed the Quickr 8 updates. AnyPlace Designer, which does not require a license key, is available now upon request.

The move to free licenses was prompted by the success of the SNAPPS Quickr Templates under the free software model, and a choice by SNAPPS to sacrifice license fees for a greater presence in Quickr deployments. "Our products, especially AnyPlace Administrator, have been an entry point for many enterprise customers who have then become high-value consulting or development clients.", explained Rob Novak, President of SNAPPS. "Making the AnyPlace products free brings down the price barrier to realizing the value of these powerful tools, while expanding the reach of the SNAPPS name throughout IBM's Lotus Quickr customer enterprises. Our goal is to expand the use of these products by 50 times their level as paid licenses. It's about giving back, and it's about ubiquity."

The four products are detailed on the SNAPPS website under "Solutions", and have trial versions available. Users are encouraged to wait for the updated, free versions available in mid-February for new or updated deployments. The free licenses will have optional paid support with pricing to be determined. Current licensees of the paid products will continue to receive support and maintenance until their renewal date, when they wil be converted to free versions and support renewal.

SNAPPS is the official IBM Design Partner for Lotus Quickr and has been working with enterprises on customization, deployment, architecture and product development since 1997. For mroe information about SNAPPS or this annoucement, please contact SNAPPS at info@snapps.com.