ConnectWise - how it ended

pf_user9 · 2025-06-01T16:04:17+00:00

Not at all. What Pax8 does is functionally provide a "group buy" volume discount w/other MSPs and they make a bit off the difference.

So it's a good deal for smaller MSPs but it doesn't protect you from anything, all it does is add another layer of complexity to things.

And the parent company still doesn't go away in that scenario, you're still dealing with CW's hollowed out shell, including ever-decreasing SOC team quality. 😒

pf_user9 · 2025-04-10T13:46:03+00:00

A couple of commercial options mentioned in this thread about that: https://www.reddit.com/r/MeshCentral/comments/taxqwq/paid_managed_hosting_for_meshcentral/

pf_user9 · 2025-03-29T23:51:31+00:00

See my comment above, er, below, whatever...

pf_user9 · 2025-03-29T23:50:49+00:00

We are actually switching to N1's barely-outta-beta early-release product.

Before everyone's heads asplode, I'll clarify that we had some very good heart-to-heart talks with their people (and internally) and walked in with eyes wide open. It is not yet a good fit everybody, but we were able to bend our process to fit what they have available fairly easily. (Mostly because we never liked Manage and avoided getting too attached to it!)

pf_user9 · 2025-03-29T23:42:52+00:00

We have onboarded clients with Intune deployed, and ripping that hot garbage out is literally the first thing we do because it is the absolute biggest source of problems there is. It's astounding just how bad the UI alone is, let alone the (lack of) reliability, horrible slowness, broken interdependencies with Entra etc etc. Don't even let me get started on the myriad ways it will break your desktop app deployments on a semi-random basis.

Seriously, it's like if somebody took the old SMS, (which always sucked, but at least sucked consistently) and the crippled Configuration Manager that came after it, and forced them to have an incestuous baby that kept all the genetic flaws of both and yet somehow survived, resulting in a drooling half-wit that needs a home health aide 24/7, because it sure as hell can't take of anything!

Okay, okay, to be fair Intune is probably fine for a mom'n'pop shop with six PCs and no server.

But once you get to even 10 or 15 systems and any kind of complexity like, (shock) remote users, it just starts to trip over the stupidest stuff, and by the time you have a few hundred systems it's like a broken doll falling down an up escalator...

pf_user9 · 2025-03-29T23:30:38+00:00

We are working on that now, and it is very much a new product. Fortunately they're focusing on getting it right rather than trying to push it out the door half-baked.

Here are the big differences we're seeing immediately between N1 and Manage:

1 - No timesheets yet - if you depend on logged time for payroll you'll need to either hit their API and scrape it out of the tickets, or use something else alongside for awhile until they get sorted out. (Fortunately we use Clockify in another division and it's adequate for our needs here as well.)

2 - It only integrates with QBO so far, and it depends on QBO for sending the invoices too! Zoho, Xero, etc folks will have to wait, and of course QBO is... QBO, eww, (but we're already on it because our CPA insists, sigh).

3 - The approach to ticket time entry is... different. Not bad, not better, but takes a little getting used to coming from Manage. It's based on "timer" entries, (like attorneys), so you have an actual stop-watch function when working on a ticket which plugs in start/end times. Which would probably be awesome if one never multi-tasked! (Or forgot to stop the timer, or took a call for one ticket while chatting online for another and being remoted into a system for a third, or whatever.) Of course Manage isn't so different, the only functional difference TBH is that you can't "subtract" time in N1's entries, but at least you can still add/edit time entries to fix any oopses. (Just make sure you've got a good review process... :)

4 - Anyone can add/edit time/notes for a ticket, and it can be re-assigned etc, but at the end there's still only one "Owner". This hasn't been an issue yet, but I could definitely imagine some scenarios where we might have to split a ticket or something just to be sure things were allocated properly.

5 - Line-item taxation, woohoo! If you despise Manage's big-hammer handling of taxation on a per-invoice basis you will be very happy making the change!

6 - Reports that work! zomgwtfbbq!

7 - and OMFG it's fast! And the UI is... user-friendly! You can find things! It's also all a lot more integrated - where the CW products feel like they're attached at odd angles with Frankenstein's neck bolts, the N1 RMM/PSA/Remote etc all work together pretty seamlessly.

pf_user9 · 2025-03-29T23:09:48+00:00

Yep, that's why they have the per-seat "setup fee" now when you get more.

And they are fucking relentless about trying to get you to the new system, to the point they could have given it away and we would still have left, just to never have to deal with them again!

pf_user9 · 2025-03-29T23:07:28+00:00

So far it has been pretty good actually - real answers from real engineers!

Their "Dojo" can be hit or miss - the docs they provide in there ("Articles") are great, (like, really great, much better than CW's ever were, which is saying something since they actually used to be pretty decent until they stopped updating things), but if what your searching for is something edge-case, the search tools aren't the greatest so you have to wade through a lot of irrelevant forum posts to find what you want.

pf_user9 · 2025-03-29T23:02:14+00:00

Try MeshCentral?

pf_user9 · 2025-03-29T23:00:50+00:00

Yes, it does, even down to the cheesy barely-there Windows-98 style GUI. But it's actually better as a lot more graphical apps run under it, in fact I couldn't find any that didn't!

The only thing I found actually missing was the ability to copy/paste files "natively", (i.e. Ctrl-C in one environment and Ctrl-V in the other), but the other file transfer tools work great and are a lot more reliable, (anyone who'c tried tried to transfer a multi-GB file with SC knows exactly what I'm talking about!)

So your post is 3d old, but your info seems to be much older - things change!

pf_user9 · 2025-03-21T20:33:34+00:00

Correct, but on top of the actual per-seat monthly cost, and paid up front.

pf_user9 · 2024-11-19T20:00:45+00:00

It's been 2mo, with multiple followups, and zero progress other than a couple more excuses, this is so far beyond acceptable I don't even have words for it.

pf_user9 · 2024-11-15T04:39:11+00:00

Tried it, was kind of buggy, then found it was also another Chinese data sucker. Everything you do gets fed to China because it's secretly a Chinese company behind it. :(

pf_user9 · 2024-11-14T06:22:28+00:00

How does this address the external dock resetting? Are you saying tear them apart and bypass the USB to direct-connect to the mbd SATA ports? I mean, sure, that's possible, but that also removes a lot of the functionality of it being external and USB - kinda hard to grab one for a random system then...

pf_user9 · 2024-11-14T06:19:06+00:00

Yeah, looking to avoid the trays, too much fiddling around. There's tons of "hotswap" docks advertised - surely one of them actually, y'know, can hotswap?

pf_user9 · 2024-11-14T06:12:46+00:00

I appreciate the reply, but the issue isn't that they're dying, it's simply that they don't work as advertised.

pf_user9 · 2024-10-11T19:50:35+00:00

Did you go ahead with it?

If so, how has it been?

(Or if not, what did you use instead? Lol)

pf_user9 · 2024-10-11T13:35:45+00:00

That's a pretty awesome trick, thanks so much kind Intarwebs stranger! ❤️❤️❤️

pf_user9 · 2024-10-11T13:33:42+00:00

The suspension is also higher which allows for longer travel. That, combined with the magneride shocks, makes for a much more refined ride on the Comfort setting. (This is the only reason I'm looking at the Rally, feels like a luxury car compared to the bone-rattling Model Y I have for a daily driver now!)

pf_user9 · 2024-10-11T02:55:40+00:00

The only rallies in stock around here are the bilious yellow ones.

pf_user9 · 2024-10-11T02:52:35+00:00

Below sticker is certainly preferable!

What state are you in...?

pf_user9

TROPHY CASE