FREE AS2 Connector - Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is it free?

Yes.

Q: Really?

Yes.

Q: What's the catch?

No catch.

Q: BS.

That's not a question.

Q: There's an ad banner somewhere, right? You're getting your money off of advertising.

No. No ad banner. No popups.

Q: Spyware! You have some sort of spyware that accompanies your install. You're harvesting information about me, aren't you?

No, &Registry.find_name;, we don't install anything else on your machine.

Q: OK, you're going to get me used to using your software. Then, it's going to expire on me and I'll have to either look for something else or pay some ridiculous upgrade fee in order to use your software.

No. As long as you're just trading with one partner, it will be free forever.

Q: Ah. So there is a catch. I can only trade with one partner.

OK, sure. There's a catch. One partner.

Q: Let me see if I get this straight. I've been looking at all sorts of different AS2 solutions from a list of approved vendors. Every one on this list charges thousands of dollars to get me set up. You're saying you have a solution that's totally free - no strings attached. Why the hell would you do that?

There's really no market in this industry for small businesses. If you're a big corporation that needs a full-blown EDI management system, that's great - we can help you with that and you have the thousands of dollars to lavish upon us. If you're just a little guy that needs to get an AS2 solution in place so you can continue doing business, then we don't want your money.

Q: So you're doing this out of the kindness of your hearts?

Sure.

Q: Are you communists?

No, we're Americans. We believe in freedom and baseball and apple pie.

Q: Forgive me for being skeptical, but I find it hard to believe that there's no hidden motive behind this offer of free software. You're either idealists that aren't concerned about making money, or you're not telling me something. And how can I trust that your software works if you don't care whether or not you get paid for it?

OK, fair enough. We're not entirely altruistic here. We do charge a fee if you're communicating with multiple trading partners. We also provide a more expensive toolkit that you can use to build your own application. We have adapters for Biztalk that do the same thing. We do get paid well to maintain our software, and we're accountable to those who've paid us to make sure that our products are robust. Users of the free version get to take advantage of that. We also get the benefit of exposure. Not only is our name branded on our AS2 application, but the offer of free software that normally retails for the price of a small automobile really turns a lot of heads. We're shaking this industry up.

Q: What about support? Can I contact you if I can't get it working?

Yes. We provide free e-mail support from 9AM to 5PM, Eastern Standard Time

Q: Can I call you?

No.

Q: Why not?

Because it's free.

Q: You didn't list that. That's a catch.

OK, fine. Catches: One trading partner and no phone support. You can't change the color scheme either.

Q: I don't like your color scheme.

On your monitor, you should find several buttons that change the amount of red, green, and blue display. Adjust to your taste.

Q: I've noticed that your software is the same thing provided at www.nsoftware.com. Is www.freeas2.com the same site? The same people?

More or less. www.nsoftware.com is more professional, certainly. You won't find swear words in their faq's.