Directadmin - Falling behind?

Hehehee,.. Well, here you are making it seem like they would raise the price just to start doing marketing. In this case, maybe you purchasing all of the sudden 100 licences could help them to started without raising the price.

First we don't even know if they are reading this.

Secondly, if they are, and maybe thinking of doing some kind of marketing (whether it was after or before reading this), who says they are going to fund it by raising license prices ? And if so who says it's going to be a lot (or enough to make people freak and buy a ****load of license before they raise the prices ?)

Thirdly, It would be nice to hear from them as to where DA is going, what are the plans, what is the road map, what are the "big plans" with DA. Any maybe they can start asking people what they want or need, instead of an overbeat "feature request" forum.

It may sound like I'm being negative about DA. I am a little, but I really want to know what's the future of DA. I would like to hear that there is some kind of plan to smash the other panels.
 
DA is very stable, looks ok, and has a fair price
Support is also very good (<24h)

what control panels are looking fancy??
Cpanel is ugly and i hate the windows look from plesk, and they are not stable

no thanks, using DA for several years and i am happy with them
 
I'm in the camp that believes that DA simplicity IS its major selling point, especially to new users.

We use DA almost exclusively but will outfit a server with another panel if the client requests it. In going through our trouble tickets that are control panel related, the number of problems with DA roughly equals the number of problems with the other panels even though DA installations outnumber the other panels by at least a factor of ten.

That's reason enough to keep pushing it.
 
the number of problems with DA roughly equals the number of problems with the other panels
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That is probably because people are not as familiar with DA and therefore have more questions about how to do stuff in it.

Actual problems caused by DA are probably fewer in number that the others.
 
floyd said:
That is probably because people are not as familiar with DA and therefore have more questions about how to do stuff in it.

Actual problems caused by DA are probably fewer in number that the others.
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Exactly my point. The number of DA installations that we have are easily ten times the number of other panels. SO... given that cp related support tickets are the same in number one can roughly deduce that DA is ten times easier to use than the other panels...
 
cyberneticos said:
Now let me ask you this (jeff):

Are you implying that everything is just perfect and why bother with this bullcrap thread?
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Not exactly but similar.

First, let me say that I've never had a problem with DirectAdmin nor have I ever lost a client who when asked (we ask clients when they leave) said it was because of the control panel.

But I understand that there are people who want something other than what DirectAdmin offers them, but they want to stay with DirectAdmin. I know what you mean, and I empathize with you; I'd love to buy a new Cadillac for the same price I paid for my ten-year-old Ford. I'd probably even get the same or better gas mileage.

I really don't think that this thread does anything to help any of us get a better (or even different) DirectAdmin. I think a direct email conversation with DirectAdmin staff would probably be a better approach.

Jeff
 
jlasman said:
Not exactly but similar.

First, let me say that I've never had a problem with DirectAdmin nor have I ever lost a client who when asked (we ask clients when they leave) said it was because of the control panel.
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Jeff, no offense, not trying to disrespect you, but by the looks of your site, it doesn't look like you're trying to complete with anyone, and maybe since your not in the highly competetive hosting market proactivley, you're missing out on some important stuff.

jlasman said:
I'd love to buy a new Cadillac for the same price
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Nothing of what I asked for, I asked for the same price. As a matter of fact, I already stated earlier that I wouldn't mind paying more, for a better product. I actually WANT to pay more for a better product.

jlasman said:
I really don't think that this thread does anything to help any of us get a better (or even different) DirectAdmin.
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I do. Becuase I beleive this very thread is the perfect kind of feedback Directadmin wants.

jlasman said:
staff would probably be a better approach.
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This thread has been growing since I created it non-stop. Many users are sharing their opinions, of all sizes and colors, and this is certainly a lot more valuable than me just sending them 1 email to support asking them to spend more money on marketing and makeup, don't you think?
 
floyd said:
I think really the only thing to work on is marketing. Who is responsible for that? Everyone.
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I agree. And who isn't doing their job? Directadmin, in my opinion.

Again, I am hoping DA staff takes this as contructive feedback. Not destructive.

Sincerely yours,

A happy, but could be happier, DA customer, promoter, marketer, helper and community member.
 
I'll add only that I'll hope that DirectAdmin wouldn't give up selling a control panel at the current price point, as there are people who buy based on price, and I'd hate to see DirectAdmin lose out on these users.

DirectAdmin staff is reading this thread, so we'll see where it goes from here.

Jeff
 
I choosed DA because of it's simplicity and minimal load on a system.
clients should go on functionality not looks, period.

i used cpanel. cpanel never seems to work corectly , there is always something wrong there and the price sucks.
plesk sucks more. security is ridiculous, performance is week, price high because in order to use all tools you need tu buy more stuff. and they are rippers. I had an window server, plesk knew only 4 commercial mail server and one free snd guess what, the free one doesn't work.

btw I think DA skin is ok and now im working on removing the few images present in order to make a plain text panel, customised for my customers
 
I can't think of anything I'd want added to DirectAdmin's control panel. It works, it's functional, it's fast and it's comprehensible by anyone that is new to it. It is stable, it is easy to deploy and it looks great in its present form. When technology demands an adjustment or a fix DirectAdmin's authors releases fixes or new features that addresses them and makes them available to all licensees. Sure there are some esoteric seldom used ideas that some others might want but DirectAdmin's authors stick to what is clean and practical for all instead of getting side tracked down wasteful dead ends. I should add that I use the "Enhanced" skin - it is clean and simple and I don't get support tickets or calls about it - ever. Anyone can make a skin to add to DirectAdmin so quit complaining and make your own skins if the Enhanced one isn't to your liking.

You know what I would like? I'd like solid import scripts from cPanel and Plesk and Ensim to DirectAdmin. If we had those the whole world would beat a path to DirectAdmin. Migration is so onerous that hosters stay trapped in costly beasts like cPanel and Plesk. Great billing/provisioning systems like WHMCS work great with DirectAdmin so use them instead of asking DirectAdmin to lose focus and get sidetracked making things that already exist.

Support? DirectAdmin staff always answer my emails with real solutions to real problems and they always seem to do it within about 24 hours - that is amazing - at others you never hear back from them.

There are always eggheads out there that want a million icons that take them down to granular levels and features they should never be allowed to play with. It is why cPanel and Plesk are so unreliable - too much exposed to ignorant users who shouldn't be playing with those weapons in the first place. I've worked with them all - I'm an old war horse in this industry and I can tell you from years and years of experience that the guys at DirectAdmin are doing the right thing the right way and I can also tell you that even though their site-helper.com site is old and outdated it is still one of the best and most focused references on what to do for most casual DirectAdmin users - I wish they would spend a week combing through it and updating it and getting grid of those old ugly icons.

Marketing? It is a great idea but an unaffordable one if it means hiring employees that promise the moon but deliver nothing - it would bankrupt the company - it would pollute the purity of what DirectAdmin has created.

DirectAdmin is not making a fortune at their current prices but I am sure they are making a comfortable living - good for them - they still have a life of their own - how many of you can say that for yourselves? Marketing? We need to do our own marketing to our own respective markets - we need to let DirectAdmin focus on what they do best - make and keep things running.

Could DirectAdmin do a better job marketing - you bet - but at what price? A community effort contributing our collective and respective skills to come up with marketing materials and then use them to educate the public about our favorite control panel would be a much wiser thing to do with our time. Look at how much time has been invested in this thread to complain - what a waste - why not put the same energy into creating and sharing quality marketing materials for DirectAdmin? Should we do it for free? You bet! Look at how much John and his crew have liberated us from the clutches of money grubbing cPanel and Plesk? Look at how much more profitable your respective hosting companies have become because you adopted DirectAdmin. Look at how much easier your hosting duties became after adopting DirectAdmin. You owe it to DirectAdmin if you love them or respect them at all. For all of you who never used anything but DirectAdmin - you have no idea how good you have it.

A little but significant side note: John and his crew never set out to take over the control panel market - they built it for their own use and then friends told friends who told friends who told friends ..... - John and his crew never had to go to the bank and borrow money or sell shares to launch themselves - nobody owns them or tells them how to rip off others to satisfy shareholder's greed. cPanel started off as a good thing until they probably sold their soul to the devil for short term gain - the cPanel founders probably never got the returns they thought they would - their shareholders probably bled them dry. I don't wish that fate on our good friends at Directadmin. Learn from others - don't make the same mistake that cPanel did.
 
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Such a sweet story, Gerry.

Let's talk business. Let's talk money.

I am not a comformist, I'm a business man.

John, I think I deserve an answer to my emails.

Cheers.
 
+10 to those who have requested Smarty templating engine...

I wouldn't mind the theme so much of it was quick and painless to update with my own design. But the default one needs to be light with few graphics using smarty so updates dont require a skin updated.
 
My vote on a better way of customizing skins, among other things.
I wish the whole system was plugin based as well. Pick and mix your contol panel components.
 
  • Directadmin looks like a slowly dying project.
  • Web has not been updated in years.
  • Forum has the same ugly format it's had for at least 5 years.
  • No new skins in years.
  • Current skins have not been updated in years.
  • Their licence system is old, ugly and doesn't work very well.
  • They have no ticket system to confirm important critical message receipts
  • They say the have a chat room that has been erroring out for 2 years at least.
  • Their main site has not changed in years.
  • Nothing has changed in years except a few bug fixes.

John, since you don't respond to my emails, how about you respond here. You seem to respond in every other forum. You seem to be around doing stuff. I think I deserve and answer with over 200 Directadmin licences in my account.

How much longer is DA going to keep things the way they are?

I need to make a serious business decision. I need your help.

Thanks.
 
Scary!!

Is Directadmin going to keep on track?
I have exactly 111 active licences and it will be very very terrible if DA gone. :confused:
 
Harsh...

You have a few valid points, however if you take one moment to re read your post you have NOT mentioned one thing about the core function of DA!
And that in my opinion really i the important thing, skins, and other items can easily be dealt with by your company, as for the chat, they should get rid of it as they do not have 24/7 staffing, Skins, I agree, however, I am not sure what you like would be the same as what I like, so where do they draw the line? forum, ticket system licensing, they work well enough. I use WHMCS and although I have lifetime licensing, I get hit with a yearly fee.... If DA was to stay on top of all this stuff, I am sure they would need to resort to something like this to cover overhead....
 
I dont think they would have more overhead by bringing the look up with modern times. I think they would attract more business.

But like I said before a smarty templating system would allow us to manage a new design. their current implementation sucks having to update all the time, which is why most companies chose to stay with the default in the first place.
 
QuantumNet said:
But like I said before a smarty templating system would allow us to manage a new design.
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That would require me to learn something completely new. With the current system I can make changes with no problem.
 
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