This is the first time in my 25+ years in computing that a hardware manufacturer has informed me that it wants to charge me for a firmware upgrade. I innocently checked my Drobo for firmware updates yesterday and was startled to receive the message above.
It was bad enough that my DroboShare experience was a disaster. Despite promised upgrades, Data Robotics support folks could never get it to work properly with my Vista 64 or my XP systems on my home network – others had the same problem. They just gave up. To this day, my DroboShare sits unused on a shelf in my closet – $300+ wasted. In-depth forum posts that I wrote about this topic on the DroboSpace forum are now hidden behind user account walls – viewable only by Drobo owners. Serial numbers are now needed to access their forum. This wasn’t the case last year.
To have to pay for firmware upgrades, which primarily amount to nothing more than bug fixes over time, for Drobo hardware is ridiculous. I gather that if they ever do fix the DroboShare problems which made the product unusable from the beginning, I’ll have to pay an upgrade fee. Give me a break!
I still love my Drobo, but I’m beginning to resent Data Robotics.
Dale Dietrich is a Toronto-based technology, video game, and interactive media attorney. Read more at The Daleisphere.
Firmware updates are now free again. Drop an email into DRI support and they’ll tell you how to get rid of the DroboCare message and get the upgrades.
I’m glad I picked Windows Home Server instead.
Thank you!
Got my tax refund this week and I have been itching to get a Drobo and was about to click the “buy” link yesterday, but the high cost and only a one year warranty gave me pause.
This was the tipping point. Even if updates are now free again, its shady practices like that in the first place that speak volumes about a companies commitment to its customers.
Its already a high priced gadget, in the very least they can stand by their product by opening up the boards for everyone, extending their warranty to something more adequate to the confidence in their product, and not pull stunts like having to pay for firmware.
I have to pay maintenance for our Juniper firewalls.
I have to pay maintenance for our Cisco switches.
I have to pay maintenance for our NetApp filer.
I have to pay maintenance for Windows.
I have to pay maintenance for IBM i.
I don’t get it. Yeah, it may be new for consumer devices, but then again most consumer oriented appliances are completely full of bugs and work only when they decide they want to.
What about your ipod touch 1G?
When Drobo first announced DroboCare program, they presented it as something similar to what Apple does, i.e. you get extender hardware warranty & support and functionality updates. However, bug fixes were supposed to be free — or so we were told. So what riled people up now is having to pay for firmware updates — which ONLY contain bug fixes in Drobo’s case.
Anyway, this situation was taken care of on Feb 4th. The link to owners-only DroboSpace is http://www.drobospace.com/forum/thread/13247/DroboCopy-and-file-integrity/
But I copied the main post using ShortText — http://shorttext.com/10h65ww
Lukas Beeler basically preempted my comment. It’s very common to pay for firmware updates and support for enterprise products… but the drobo is not an enterprise product.
Good to hear that the company capitulated and is offering free updates after your post.
Drobo has responded positively. They’re slow, that’s for sure, but at least they have made them free. I’ve got no issues with my Drobo so far. My review is pending.
Lukas: Those are all business products … not consumer products. If your IBM i goes down for a few hours, then you’re out of business for that time. You pay for IBM support & maintenance and you get what you pay for (at least in the case of IBM).
If a consumer grade product provider wants to charge for maintenance, they need to be able to provide a level of support that warrants the cost.
‘course it’s moot, in this case at least, since the firmware upgrade is available free.
After reading your comments, I emailed DRI giving them my opinion :)
Jillian wrote back to me, stating that they don’t — and never did — charge for firmware updates.
@ DR Patroni: while they never charged for firmware upgrades per se, the issue was that for a brief period of time you couldn’t get upgrades unless you bought DroboCare which bundled software+extra warranty + support. Now, they separated software from warranty & support and firmware should be free.
I have now updated my original post. I received an email (copied into that updated post) from Mark, Fuccio, Sr. Dir. Products & Markets for Data Robotics Inc. wherein he points out that the next version of the Drobo dashboard software will allow users continued access to firmware updates/bug fixes.
He also points out that you can get this function now if you are willing to join the beta program for the latest version of the dashboard software. Unfortunately users are experiencing problems with the beta so I’m waiting. My drobo is the SINGLE repository for much of my important data. I will not use beta software with it. I can’t take the risk of data loss.
…Dale
I also wish to add that Lukas and others are quite right.
I should have confined my 25+ years statement to the consumer segment.
As a technology attorney, I know all to well that maintenance and support fees for hardware are common-place in the commercial world (though bug-fixes are still commonly offered for free even in the commercial-space). I draft and negotiate those kinds of agreements for a living.
I will update the original post to make that clearer.
…Dale