There have been some substantial technical and non-technical changes to the product since the last full release of SmartBounce, in November 1999. The highlights of the technical changes are covered in the New Features file. This file covers the non-technical product changes since the last full release. Specific changes to the licensing agreement are covered in the revised MailBounce License document.

If you have any questions about any product changes, technical or non-technical, please feel free to contact Smart Mail Solutions, Inc.

Summary of Changes:

Background: The "SmartBounce" bounce-management application was developed, marketed, sold, and maintained by Vincent Sabio through Orion Software, Ltd. -- a Maryland-based sole proprietorship -- between 1997 and 2000.

In February 2000, the assets of Orion Software, including the SmartBounce code base, were purchased by Return Path, Inc., a Delaware-based corporation headquartered in New York City. Please note that there have been some changes to the license agreement as a result of the February 2000 sale.

The terms of the sale permitted the original developer to continue to maintain, upgrade, market, and distribute the product "in a non-competitive manner." Thus, following the February 2000 sale, the former sole proprietorship was incorporated as "Smart Mail Solutions, Inc.," a limited-liability subchapter S corporation, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, for the purpose of maintaining the packaged software product.

Per the requirements of the licensing agreement between Smart Mail Solutions, Inc., and Return Path, Inc., the current product does not contain any code that was developed by Return Path. Similarly, there is code in the current product that is not present in the Return Path version. As a result of this permanent fork in the code base, and in order to avoid confusion between the two products, the version that is being maintained and distributed by Smart Mail Solutions has been renamed from its former name, "SmartBounce," to a new product name, "MailBounce." The product will continue to be maintained, upgraded, and distributed by Smart Mail Solutions under this product name.

Return Path's version of the code base, known as "SmartBounce Hosted Edition," is an ASP (application service provider) solution that caters to high-volume commercial mailing lists. If you would like information on SmartBounce Hosted Edition, please feel free to contact Smart Mail Solutions, or contact Return Path directly.

Smart Mail Solutions will distribute MailBounce solely as a "packaged software" solution (i.e., you dowload, install, configure, and run the software yourself). Thus, the former "SmartBounce Gold" ASP service will no longer be offered. If you prefer an ASP service instead of packaged software, then you should look at SmartBounce Hosted Edition by Return Path. If you prefer to install and manage the software yourself, then you will want the MailBounce product.

If you have any questions regarding the product and licensing changes, product positioning, and/or feature differences between SmartBounce Hosted Edition and MailBounce, please feel free to contact Smart Mail Solutions for details.

MailBounce Legalese (the short form):

MailBounce Lite is freeware; you are free to use it and redistribute it for free as much as you like. MailBounce Pro is commercial software, and may not be redistributed (in any form) without prior written permission from Smart Mail Solutions, Inc. You may not charge a fee to redistribute MailBounce (in any form), unless you have previously obtained permission from Smart Mail Solutions, Inc., to do so. Please refer to the MailBounce License file for detailed license information.

[home]

[ReadMe]