So if Parallels decided to buy out cPanel - what would you do?
Would you be worried for the future of your software supplier?
Would you switch control panels?

We all know how the Modernbill buy out turned out..

I'd just like to get folks thinking of things they don't think about. Buyouts do happen.

Funny you mention that, someone asked Sergei pretty much the same question at the Parallels Summit last year; he responded with "I don't think they want to be purchased".

I think it's a pretty sensible question with everyone Parallels has been buying, but I personally don't think there's a possibility of it happening anytime soon. The message that was being sent to Parallels partners this past year was largely that Parallels is done buying and is getting down to developing / improving upon what they have for a while.

I would be worried beyond recognition that the CPANEL licensing scheme would switch from the current licensing fees to a model where we would be paying for specific features or by site quantity 100, 200, 300 sites, etc and these costs would increase every year or worst.

Please don't joke like that....:(

However, I would say that the deal would be good for a CPANEL version for Windows which I think would dominate the market. Imagine being able to move a site between your linux and windows environments (assuming that compatibility wont be affected).

I would be worried beyond recognition that the CPANEL licensing scheme would switch from the current licensing fees to a model where we would be paying for specific features or by site quantity 100, 200, 300 sites, etc and these costs would increase every year or worst.

I think that's going by the wayside too. Parallels just stopped offering Plesk 10 domain and Plesk 30 domain under new agreements, the only options left are 100 domain and unlimited.

What would I do? Begin planning a migration to another platform - DirectAdmin, Interworx. Anything that isn't Parallels.

All of the recent Parallels acquisitions have been horrible, and simply designed to remove a competitor in many cases I think. I still don't understand the ModernBill buy. They seem to buy and then do nothing with what they now have.

If Sergei did reply with "I don't think they want to be purchased", it wouldn't surprise me to learn Parallels had already asked cPanel and been told very nicely to go away. cPanel won't be blind and will see people having problems with Parallels - there's a huge growth opportunity for them to pick up customers who are now fed up with one of Parallels many different products.

Cancel our Cpanel agreement immediately and move to something else. We would recommend all of customers that are using Cpanel to move as well. Parallels products and support stink and let's not even talk about their pricing and licensing.

We were using Ensim but when they were purchased by Parallels we migrated all sites over to cPanel. I sure hope I don't have to do that again.

I would go for my gun drawer :) I love CPanel just the way it is. Some things are sacred.

Dont worry. I had a pretty clear message from the nice people at cPanel that basically was "We are not going to be sold to Parallels, ever..." :agree:

That was at the time when I was worried about that scenario as well. cPanel is basically the "thing" that Plesk isn't. :o

It would be a bad deal, 99% of cPanel customers would exactly do what I would if that scary things ever happens. Move away to another platform. There are allot of control panels besides cPanel and Plesk.

Still dont worry, I dont think that is going to happen. And for those that went about the Windows market I think you forget that cPanel launched Enkompass which is cPanel for Windows and not only has it more features then Plesk for Windows but its also set up on a HA or cluster scenario, so I would say it kicks Plesk butt both in Linux and Windows now.

Parallels is more focused currently in virtualization then in their panels, those they threat as merely addons for Virtuozzo.

About the quote from Sergei and I think it basically means, they would buy if they could but cPanel doesn't want to be bought. They are stable and growing and they dont need to be wiped out. Thats what Parallels does with the products they buy, they basically buy a market, not the software.

Cancel our Cpanel agreement immediately and move to something else. We would recommend all of customers that are using Cpanel to move as well. Parallels products and support stink and let's not even talk about their pricing and licensing.

I agree 100% on that statement.

That was a pretty nice little discussion though ;). I cant even imagine the possibility, when I have to suggest my customer to visit parallels.com to select any popular control panels ;)

It would be time to hire a programmer to make our own inhouse systems!

Hi,

From what I see, cPanel has the strength to buy Parallels and not viceversa.
Common, just imagine the Cash cPanel makes compared to Parallels.
Its impossible for a buyout.

Hi,

From what I see, cPanel has the strength to buy Parallels and not viceversa.
Common, just imagine the Cash cPanel makes compared to Parallels.
Its impossible for a buyout.

The people named as potential buyers of Parallels have included Microsoft and IBM. I wouldn't put cPanel in that same category ;)

While cPanel certainly has huge market share in the Linux control panel market, Parallels have substantial market share in the Windows market, to an extent in Linux, and a virtualisation presence (both desktop level and server level). Not to mention their automation tools for large businesses. Parallels also charges a premium for many of their products (although seems to have simplified it in some areas). Parallels annual revenue was recently reported as $100 million (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aXGUX2luUUGY) with 700 employees. cPanel is a much smaller company and I would be very surprised if their revenue was anywhere near that.

Cry? :stickout:

I love cPanel's products and the support they offer, I'm not a fan of Parallels at all.

Depending on pricing we would either stick with it, assuming there are no major changes, or move to DirectAdmin

I'd swap to Directadmin overnight if this occurred, Parallels has repeatedly proven they give not a single **** about any of their clientele.

Hi

If Parallels bought cpanel I would not be happy!! Luckily I could easily move from modernbill to WHMCS once that got Paralised!

Parellels killed Helm and everything else they have bought!

There is only one thing that sucks harder than a dyson, and that Parallels!! ( quote taken from another forum ;) )

heh, this is a joke, right?

IF cPanel were to sell out to sell out to Paralles, I would cancel all our licenses, and our client's licenses immediately. Every piece of software that Parallels every acquired either died out a silent death, or it got so bad that people were forced to use their other products.

Hello,

Lets hope it will be a bad nightmare. :)

The ironic thing is that cPanel are more cocky then Parellels, and they make a fortune on the linux market with only a handful of staff, to not care if Parallels dangled a weeny carrott infront of their face.... While there's a market anyway....!

The other ironic thing is... I doubt any non-bedroom-outfit webhosting company saying they will cancel all their cpanel licenses if Parallels bought them out, would be putting their money where their mouth is, your business would be over far sooner than Paralells.!

Ontop of that... If Parallels did buy cPanel, it would mean the begin of the end of the Control Panel market.. And that means, Parellels would likely be fishing at being bought by a super power, Microsoft/Google, for control of a massive market share.

@network82 you're kidding, right? The "death" of HyperVM clearly indicated that other's are not afraid of starting a new revolution. And Parallels is not the only hosting control panel company around. MANY others exists, which are far better than Plesk

Please do not give Parallels or cPanel any ideas. :(

@network82 you're kidding, right? The "death" of HyperVM clearly indicated that other's are not afraid of starting a new revolution. And Parallels is not the only hosting control panel company around. MANY others exists, which are far better than Plesk

There's plenty of crack pot panels out there, but ask yourself if they will ever amount to anything. The hosting business is evolving rapidly, if you start a new panel venture, you better hope its a good one, because unless it makes a dent in the market, its just hundreds of wasted man hours..

Two main reason why panels go open source is;
1) panel was developed by the host to work in the way they wanted it, and make it opensource to share the work and see what other people come up with for it.. Often these people are OpenSource mad...!
2) panel developed to run host and/or sell commercially, but receives little or no interest, so they make it opensource to avoid supporting paying customers and loosing money by which of man hours supporting it.

And going by the point of this thread, it is about competition of commercial control panels... So new ventures have no chance unless they think and go BIG!

Like in that film, your either a 1 or a 0... Alive or Dead....

modernbill was crap before and after. If cPanel were sold we'd probably look at what licensing options would exist. We may use Plesk if they had more flexible licensing options for smaller hosts.

I would have to guess they would ramp up the cPanel licensing costs making it harder for smaller hosts to use it.

If it happened i would retire from the Industry