I couldn’t agree more. The benefits and lead BigFix had are certainly being eroded away.
It was a sad day when I heard IBM was buying BigFix because this is exactly what I figured would happen. It’s wasn’t a surprise when a huge software company like IBM buys a small nible company like BigFix and things slow down or some cases just simply get worse. We have already been impacted by two programing bugs since IBM has taken over!! Not to mention the licensing changes (err, price increases) that have gone through!
Ahhh the forums, I feel like we should have a moment of silence. To me it’s a HUGE oversight that you can’t search All (and only) BigFix content on the forums! I get SO many non-relevant results!
So to sum it up, incomplete Windows/MS patching solution, increased bugs, much less useful forums, slow prodcut response and all for more money!! The future does not look bright.
There have been some disappointing changes (or lack thereof) since the transition, but I don’t think it’s all been bad. For example…
LDAP/AD authentication, roles, password resets, no more private key files to manage
Console performance improvements (IMO), and the console handles network disruptions much better than before. Also, I think the console connects over its own port rather than directly to the SQL Server, which I like.
Mobile Device Management - It’s still early on, but it looks promising
New site for updates for Mac applications
Still running on Windows and MS SQL - no DB2, no Oracle, and no console rewritten in Java.
I do agree though, the forums and search are really bad. Even the Google appliance seems to have trouble returning relevant results from the new forums. And please, move “developerWorks” to the END of the page title! That’s SEO/Usability 101. The wiki has a lot of great content, but the interface is clunky. The support portal is difficult to navigate, but it does have some good content as well (
Not the first thread requesting this… first thread I can find via google search begins early 2011. So nearly two years later…
BenKus
: "We focus our patch offering around security and not around windows update… "
T.T
: “Really? But Oct 2012 important patches includes quite a few security updates… Why has this not been fixed yet? I don’t care about the cosmetic cool effects a delivery system has, if its broke like a joke.”
BenKus
: “Sorry guys… I have nothing new… I will forward this thread to the Product Management team at IBM responsible for these decisions these days…”
T.T
: “Perhaps the world is not as simple as it seems from up there…”
BenKus
: “Up where?”
T.T
: “IBM’s ivory tower”
Who was this forwarded to over at Product Management? Can you provide contact information? I can tell you this particular stance is a joke and I will be creating a full rant about this on a blog site since no one is really taking this issue seriously over there.
This thread: http: // www. ibm .com/developerworks/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=14814804&tstart=0
suggests that IBM was looking into fixing this issue. This particular thread has a bunch of apologies, and a comment about how nothing will be done. Which way is it?
We are actively working on supporting Non-Security content for Windows Family (kernel + .net) followed by other product families. The prioritization of which product will be supported next (Sharepoint/Exchange/Office etc) is a product management call.
If it helps: All I can say is that windows family non-security is on the cards and Office and other product families are in the plan.