Beta Testers Needed :)

[brian__]

Hi all,

Brian here, I work on Rawstream - a URL filtering service, similar to how OpenDNS works, but with better filtering

We're looking for beta users to test out the service and give us feedback on the quality of the filtering, the UI and ease of use.

For features and more information visit this page.

You do need to create an account to use the service - sign up is easy at Rawstream.

We'd really appreciate your feedback - good and bad! As a small thank you, beta accounts will be upgraded to full, free, accounts on launch.

Looking forward to your feedback!

Brian
brian [at] rawstream.com

[kendall.a]

Dumb question...sort of unrelated, but not.

How would I go about switching to this DNS if I'm using Peppermint or Mint? I've switched DNS (OpenDNS, ClearCloud, etc.) using Windows, but I've never done it with Linux.

[Remah]

Originally Posted by brian__

We'd really appreciate your feedback - good and bad! As a small thank you, beta accounts will be upgraded to full, free, accounts on launch.
brian@rawstream.com

Thanks for the offer but do you have a free product or service after your launch?

[MidnightCowboy]

Emailed direct for confirmation of service status once the beta test period is over.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by kendall

Dumb question...sort of unrelated, but not.

How would I go about switching to this DNS if I'm using Peppermint or Mint? I've switched DNS (OpenDNS, ClearCloud, etc.) using Windows, but I've never done it with Linux.

Go to your "Edit Connections" tab, select the configured connection and hit "Edit" for that too. Then, under iPV4 settings you need to change from "Auto" to "Auto - Addresses Only" (exact wording might vary), and then add the server addresses with a , in between.


You'll need to restart the connection then run this in terminal to check the change:

$ cat /etc/resolv.conf

[MidnightCowboy]

Reply now received from the developers:

The short answer is yes, the service will be free after beta.

Rawstream is intended to hook into Google Apps and will be following the same model of having 1 to 10 seats free. Customers with over 10 seats would need to subscribe to the service.

Of course, beta testers will continue to have free access to Rawstream irrespective of the number of seats.

[kendall.a]

Thanks MC. I'll give it a try.

[MidnightCowboy]

Rawstream actually looks quite interesting and I may have a go with this myself

While I was communication with Brian, I took the opportunity to ask one question I know will be popular with current users of other services such as Norton, Comodo or OpenDNS, i..e what benefits can I expect by switching? This was the answer:


The most visible and immediate gain is that of more control. Norton offers three policy settings (Security, Security + Porn, Security + Porn + Non-family friendly). Rawstream lets you choose from 82 different categories to block. Rawstream also lets you add custom entries to block. The other major difference is that we allows you to set Rawstream to monitor mode - no blocking, just monitoring.

We don't have access to Norton's list of malicious sites to compare against - but we cover a pretty broad range of security threats: botnets, malware sites, spam urls, open proxies, etc. In this case I look forward to beta feedback to help us have a truer picture of how we stand against the competition Right now we're focused on building a comprehensive, reliable and easy to use-service (we're particularly proud of our setup wizard ) - detailed comparisons in terms of breadth and accuracy of coverage and how we compare against the competition is sometime we still need to work on. What I do know is that from some initial testing against OpenDNS, we have better and more accurate cover of international sites for instance.

[Anupam]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

Rawstream is intended to hook into Google Apps and will be following the same model of having 1 to 10 seats free. Customers with over 10 seats would need to subscribe to the service.

What does this mean?

[brian__]

Originally Posted by Anupam

What does this mean?

Hi Anupam,

The plan is to offer Google Apps integration. What this means is that an organisation running Google Apps will be able to 'install' Rawstream for their users. Integrating with Google Apps makes it easy for admins to manage users and policy and also allows us to offer single-sign-on. Google Apps is currently free for organisations with 10 users or less. We intend to follow Google Apps in this and make Rawstream available for free also to such organisations.

Of course, Google Apps integration is just that, one means of integrating Rawstream into the organisation. Standalone signup via Rawstream will always be available.


Brian