Postini's channel offering was always poor, but since the Google takeovr it has be laughable, bordering on the offensive. In the past I've had to resort to calling them on a different number so they didn't recognise the caller line id in order to speak with them! It often takes over 3 weeks to get a response, and we're a pretty big 'partner'. I can't see this improving.

In fact, with this underpriced offering they're just completely damaging their partners. Key resellers just won't be able to make enough margin at these prices. Clearly the idea is to make direct sales, and at best ignore the channel.

In addition to this, the new services are about a year out of date. Unlimited archiving space is a nice plus, but the extra charge if you want it for a year soon gets rid of the low pricing. Anyone after compliance archiving is going to have to fork out nearly as much as they would for a far better service from the likes of Email Systems (now Webroot) or the like.

Also, where's the promised business continuity module? No sign of it, no mention, despite it being pencilled in for a Q1 2008 launch?

All in all, far too little, far too late. Our experiences with Email Systems have surpassed those with Postini a million times over. Sure it's more expensive, but it offers a lot more and the experience of dealing with them has been a pleasure from end to end.

We made the decision to leave Postini's derisory channel offering a while before the much touted announcements, but this has only made me more confident we've made the right move. Quite clearly, channel doesn't mean to much to Postini/Google. This is fair enough, but be honest about it. Don't insult us.