Articles like this tout the amazing revenue of Parallels, Inc, a leading manufacturer of virtualization software headquartered in Russia.  While Parallels does make (mostly) decent software, is it necessary for them to use thinly-veiled scams to increase their revenue?  It's bad enough that they engage in the UK tax, where a product that costs 40 USD in the US costs 49 EUR or 35 GBP in the UK.  Worse than that, for an extra fee they're offering an "extended download service" with the claim that they'll "automatically store on our server a back-up copy of the software that you purchased and downloaded for two (2) years from the date of purchase."  Making your product available for download isn't something that you charge money for.  That's what they paid for when they bought it.  In two years Parallels might release two more versions of their software, so keeping the old version around might cost them an extra 100 MB of storage.  This is a scam.

If you're a scumbag and take advantage of those who don't know that they're paying $6.95 USD to access the same copy of the software as everyone else, stored one time on an FTP server, it's highly likely that you're a scumbag in all areas of your business.  Does a company who has no qualms about ripping off the unknowing consumer really deserve the praise of the industry as a leader in business?

Do you think disasters are limited to fire and theft?  How about when a crazy, drunk employee shoots the server?  A business in Utah is dealling with that today, after one of their system administrators got drunk and shot the server with a .45 caliber handgun. It reinforces the point that a disaster is just that - a disaster.  You never expect it and can only hope to be prepared when it happens.