What’s the benefit of the Commercial version vs the OSS one? I’ve been using the free okay so far but I’m looking to deploy some VVX phones. Apparently the OSS version no longer being updated?
I updated to the latest Freepbx the other day hoping to see vvx 410 support, but nothing.
I think there are many benefits. look at it like this.
First, the commercial version supports more phones and has additional features like base files.
Second, the commercial version is only $25.00 US.
Third and most importantly, the commercial version helps pay the bills for the wonderful people who so tirelessly provide us with a world class open source telephony solution.
In my opinion $25.00 is a bargain.
Now that I have used the commercial version for a bit, I’ve found that its definately not a strait-up upgrade. I’m a Polycom user and went from IP series to now some VVX series.
So far I’ve noticed a few things:
-The design of the program is a bit different. It seems they tried to make things that were XML files now GUI editable fields.
-The firmware interface is a bit more advanced. It supports more firmware versions and I’m guessing probably newer/more stuff.
-The users have lost the ability to edit the Endpoint template from their web login.
I also had a lot of customizations in the XML files that appear to not exist in the GUI now. I haven’t yet tried to add them back using the new interface yet but it appears based on what I’ve done so far that it will be possible.
Overall, I’d say the only upgrade for me is the newer phone firmware options. Everything else to me is the same or a downgrade.
I’ve recently installed the Commercial EPM and didn’t realize that we wouldn’t be able to use our old 7940 Cisco phones with it. This was a big disappointment, honestly.
Also…for some reason the Commercial EPM doesn’t allow for bmp uploads for images…
However, it has a nice interface and we got it mainly because we wanted a manageable way to provision OBiHai devices, and for that, it works beautifully.
Though the documentation states that both the OSS and the Commercial EPM can’t be used concurrently…I fail to see why not. The managers essentially just create configurations and XML files. Unless you’re creating duplicate configurations for your phones on each, we’ve not seen an issue running both (the OSS for our old phones).
The way they hook themselves into extensions is mutually exclusive.
Again, that means that one or the other cannot use templates created by their counterpart, correct? They can EXIST and be used independently, just neither will see what the other has done and can step on toes if not careful.
No they can not be both used on a system. We both create some common files for some manufactures and they will fight with each other. Please do not try and run both on the same box. IT WILL CREATE PROBLEMS
Thank you Mr. Lewis for clearing that up. Much obliged.
I do have a bit of a pickle then. We attempted the installation of the Commercial EPM before pulling everyhing out of TFTPboot. We had it backed up of course, but installing the CEPM didn’t cause us any problems and I was able to deploy the OBi200 device without any problems.
Now, if I just disable it and go on my merry way for other provisioning using the OSS tool…will I be alright? I don’t want this to bite me in the posterior down the line.