Oooh. I might have to agree with Norm...

Post #15,254 by addison 10/26/01 10:21:01 AM Reply	Oooh. I might have to agree with Norm... I'm not sure. When you write antivirus software.. there's a little difference in upgrades and support. (At least in my opinion). I can see why they want you to pay, and why they want you to upgrade, but that's new to me for charging for the data file. Normally, the AV guys go out of their way to make it easy and cheap to use their stuff - I forget who we had, but the terms of the license were such that you could install on every computer of every employee, even home. Probably was F-Prot..... But they wanted to get the lock in, one, and wanted to get on every machine. Norm: try out F-prot... [link\|http://www.f-prot.com/f-prot/download/\|http://www.f-prot.c...ot/download/] Hrm. The DOS one's still free, and Linux is free. Interesting. Addison
Post #15,500 by orion 10/28/01 4:48:58 PM Reply	Correct, imagine this: You buy a Word processor, Word 97, but the data formats keep changing. In order to load Word 2000 or Word XP documents, you have to buy the new version of Word. Plus you have to pay a subscription fee, because the data format changes each week and has to be updated as people create new Word documents. Imagine, the AntiVirus makers, charging for a subscription to get AntiVirus data files. Some people don't update at all and get hit with the latest Outlook/Word/VBA/Windows virus/trojan. Now imagine that most people either cannot afford or don't want to pay $10USD a year to get those data file updates. Imagine the type of Viruses and Trojans that get spread around because of that. All because the AV companies want to get more money. I think that AV software should be open sourced anyway, that way we can combat the viruses out there more. Any Open Sourced AntiVirus software, or is everyone in it for as much money as they can [possibly make? I mean you guys holler about Windows XP needing a key to continue working after 10 hardware changes, but all of a sudden paying for AV data file updates is not an issue? *Picking up the pieces of my broken life.*
Post #15,526 by static 10/29/01 12:24:25 AM Reply	Open source AV? Good luck. I can't see it flying. Really. Having been involved in understanding virii and anti-virus software in years gone past, I would be surprised if people with the right kind of expertise and enthusiasm couldn't find gainful employ with an anti-virus software vendor. Would the same people be interested in writing an open source anti-virus software? Methinks not. Wade. "All around me are nothing but fakes Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"
Post #18,832 by CRConrad 11/19/01 3:21:50 PM Reply	Not Open Source, but "Free-as-in-Beer": AVG 6.0 Anti-Virus, from [link\|http://www.grisoft.com/\|[link\|http://www.grisoft.com/\|http://www.grisoft.com/]]. Also available from [link\|http://www.grisoft.cz/\|[link\|http://www.grisoft.cz/\|http://www.grisoft.cz/]] (Czechoslovakia); the magazine I got the link from recommended that for the better download speed -- but then it's a British mag (PCW, for those of you who follow Pom PC Publishing), so I suppose that only helps us on this side of the Atlantic. Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything
Post #15,503 by orion 10/28/01 4:54:15 PM Reply	Not the same as Tax Software Tax Software isn't updated every week with a new data file from the IRS. Even if both the IRS and Computer Viruses are blood-suckers. ;) I am not talking about buying NAV 2001 and getting NAV 2002 for free, I am talking about getting the AV Data Files updated. They are like Service packs in a way. This AV thing is such a racket, I suspect the AV companies may be writing their own viruses to spread into the wild to sell more AV software! :( *Picking up the pieces of my broken life.*

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