Yep, since the Veritas / Symantec merger the quality of pre-sales support has gone from good to non-existant! When it was Veritas they had a straight forward pre-sales support phone number where you could call, and on every occasion I used the line I found the staff on the other end to be extremely helpful, and answered my questions quickly and accurately.
Since the merger it seems they've ditched that method of communication, preferring to get people coming on here asking their licensing questions, which is just stupid. It's like they're telling all those people who have cash in their hands wanting to buy their products, that they can only do so if they already know what they want, or are willing to take a chance.
When it was the old Symantec that was fine, all their products were reletively simple, nothing too complex (how hard can an AV server and a bunch of licenses get!), but now with the more complex Veritas portfolio on board they really should have taken up the Veritas model of dealing with pre-sales support! So much of taking the best from both companies during the merger!
Finally to answer the question "how can companies justify charging more for the backup product then the actual OS", quite simply, all the companies know that 1) the person recommending and purchasing the software is technical, 2) it's not their own money they're spending, and 3) in the event of a failure they can't recover from their jobs are on the line. Having your job at risk really helps to focus the mind! :)
