I have been wanting to comment on Gerald Blackie's response for a while but I have been (still am) busy with a major deployment project.

"With respect to the overarching question of whether Kaseya should spend more time on the core vs. its add-on modules I will reiterate what I have said many times in the past. Our development teams are hard at work on all aspects of the code. We operate on the basis of development teams. There are development engineers, product managers, quality assurance personnel and product marketing in the day-to-day product development efforts. We have teams working on both the core and current modules as well as teams working on new code that has not seen the light of day. Its a balanced approach that yields a continual set of improvements to the software both existing code and future code."

If this is true why is it then that we see more new modules deployed then improvements made in the core?

"Many of you will have seen the recent announcement of Kaseya Network Monitor. This is the product we purchased from Intellipool and is being made available as a core component of Kaseya VSA to our Partners. No charge. This product is world-class as a standalone point solution. Monitoring companies would typically charge in the $30 - $50 per monitored object for this type of product. We are providing this to all MSP Partners without charge. This, without mentioning the "ton" of other new VSA functionality we released just this year alone."

The opportunity to get this for free only presented it self to myself this week. Some reason why we did not take this up before was;

1) Kaseya Network Monitor has not yet been integrated into Kaseya
2) Additional hardware will be required
3) We would have to purchase more  licensing and pay more maintenance fees

So all I can say is I appreciate the opportunity to try this solution free of licensing and maintenance fees.

"In addition, we are constantly working to improve the performance, scalability and effectiveness of the entire framework; core and add-ons. We are in the midst of a major upgrade to the core VSA which will be released in 2012. It sports so many new powerful features inside and out that it makes my head spin. So to think that we are not investing in the core is patently wrong."

We have heard the same thing over the years still waiting on the customizable reporting promised back when I was still using Kaseya 5.x.

"We have a wide cross section of customers with very diverse needs. For example, some partners must have functionality like Imaging and Deployment (KID) where as another partner may have no interest in it. This is part of our balancing act. The good news is when a partner who previously did not care about a module and now needs it to satisfy a new account's service requirements its there and available. To be engaged in Managed Services and be part of the Kaseya partner network means you can be assured that, over time, you will have access to all the IT functionality required to provide a comprehensive managed services offering. While some functionality is, when initially released, lighter in content than our vision it should be very clear that we mean to make each and every function world-class. This is a commitment we make to our Manage Service Partners, but with limited resources it will take more not less time. "

As a recent unwilling test pilot of "Imaging and Deployment (KID)" I would recommend avoiding even mentioning it as it was not ready to be released as a world-class function.

"In summary, my view is that working on the core VSA vs. add-on modules is not a zero sum game. We don't remove resources from something released into the market to move to something else. "

What most of us wants is more continuity between the modules and a world class core instead of dozens of additional modules that initially have little or no business value.

"Outside of our specific development efforts it is worth mentioning our Test Pilot program as well.  This program is designed to be a direct channel of communication between our product teams and you, our customers as we put the final touches on code.  This program yields fantastic data that helps to validate product design, features and stability.  Already this program has helped improve products before release."

Most software companies hire software testers for this process and not all of us has the time to do free testing, if there was some sort of business advantage then maybe I can convince my employer to allow me to sign up for the Test Pilot program but so far I have seen none.

Some Steve Job quotes that I think applies;

A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. So they don't have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one's understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.

-Steve Jobs

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

-Steve Jobs

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

-Steve Jobs