I have been doing some recent research on different sources for managed services and basically, what I find most IT personnel are looking for is:

• Software Deployment and System Management
• Help Desk and Ticketing system
• Network monitoring with real time alerts
• Various forms of asset innovatory, etc

Clearly, there are no shortage of options in this field. Great choices from both the expensive to the cheap are available with relatively little research needed. However I do believe that overall, doing some research can save you a LOT of money. Case in point, Spiceworks.

Unlike Kasesya, HoundDog among others, Spiceworks appears to offer most if not all of the same services for get this – free. Yes, it is completely free and Spiceworks has even taken it upon themselves to refer to their efforts as the ‘iTunes’ of IT applications. Not sure about that, but I do think that they have a solid business model as they are using Google’s ad model to support their efforts. It’s actually pretty clever, really.

Wait, so am I saying that Spiceworks is adware? If your definition of adware is a program, such as AIM or other advertising supported software that generates revenue from ads with the software operator’s permission, then yes, that is what Spiceworks actually is. This being said, like many other advertising supported products, you have an ad-free choice – pony up the cash for a GREAT product. But this again, brings up an interesting perception on freely available software. People actually work to disable the ads for programs such as Spiceworks despite the fact that they are totally up front about the fact that this is how they generate revenue. Does this seem fair to you? Did it seem fair when users used to do the same thing with AIM and other ad supported programs in the past? And when is something going from ad supported to adware? Malware, spyware, sure – obvious enough. But to label something as adware to me, in my mind, would indicate that I was somehow mislead about the revenue generation of the said app. What do you think? Are we looking at double standards here? If not, why not then?