Their coming Beta was all over the press the last week. Some of the higher-ups in your organization might get the wrong idea and think you can use that in any kind of enterprise. To give you some ammo against that silly idea (to begin with, managing it would be a nightmare) here are some comments you can pick and choose from to enlighten them and change their mind back to a more sane perspective.
It was interesting to see how the big commercial AV companies responded. Symantec and McAfee came back with something like "Fss... look at the OneCare disaster". Joris Evers, a spokesperson for McAfee, said: "On a level playing field, we are confident in our ability to compete with anyone who might enter the marketplace." Rowan Trollope, senior vice president of consumer software at Symantec said: "Consumers have already rejected OneCare. Making that same substandard security technology free won't change that equation."
Next, There are quite a few free AV products available today, so there's nothing new here. But if you're an enterprise, there really is no such thing as "free" software. Think about the different factors impacting productivity, like antivirus bloatware and ineffective signature-based AV on the desktop and hard to manage consoles for the admin.
On top of that, Small and Medium Enterprises are especially at risk with a so-called "free" offer, because they are more likely to try to get away with using free software than larger enterprises are, and SME's limited IT staff makes the impact of a "wrong" decision much more pronounced than it is in an organization with a big IT team. Kind of a "you get what you pay for" scenario, when the $#!+ hits the fan.
Last year, John Pescatore, an analyst at Gartner Inc., questioned whether users would step up to Microsoft's product (code named Morro) even if it was free. "Consumers are hesitant to pay for a Microsoft security product that will remove problems in other Microsoft products," he said. "Think of it this way. What if you smelled a rotten egg odor in your water and the water company said, 'Sure, we can remove that, but it will cost you $50.' Would you buy it?"
One user commented on the ITPortal site: "Microsoft releasing Morro is like the Tobacco industry offering its own health care service or insurance company; an oxymoron scheme.
I can't help but question whether or not AV companies will eventually react and fight back via the European Courts similarly to those which attacked Microsoft over Internet Explorer. Note that Win7 will ship without a browser in Europe!
It was interesting to see how the big commercial AV companies responded. Symantec and McAfee came back with something like "Fss... look at the OneCare disaster". Joris Evers, a spokesperson for McAfee, said: "On a level playing field, we are confident in our ability to compete with anyone who might enter the marketplace." Rowan Trollope, senior vice president of consumer software at Symantec said: "Consumers have already rejected OneCare. Making that same substandard security technology free won't change that equation."
Next, There are quite a few free AV products available today, so there's nothing new here. But if you're an enterprise, there really is no such thing as "free" software. Think about the different factors impacting productivity, like antivirus bloatware and ineffective signature-based AV on the desktop and hard to manage consoles for the admin.
On top of that, Small and Medium Enterprises are especially at risk with a so-called "free" offer, because they are more likely to try to get away with using free software than larger enterprises are, and SME's limited IT staff makes the impact of a "wrong" decision much more pronounced than it is in an organization with a big IT team. Kind of a "you get what you pay for" scenario, when the $#!+ hits the fan.
Last year, John Pescatore, an analyst at Gartner Inc., questioned whether users would step up to Microsoft's product (code named Morro) even if it was free. "Consumers are hesitant to pay for a Microsoft security product that will remove problems in other Microsoft products," he said. "Think of it this way. What if you smelled a rotten egg odor in your water and the water company said, 'Sure, we can remove that, but it will cost you $50.' Would you buy it?"
One user commented on the ITPortal site: "Microsoft releasing Morro is like the Tobacco industry offering its own health care service or insurance company; an oxymoron scheme.
I can't help but question whether or not AV companies will eventually react and fight back via the European Courts similarly to those which attacked Microsoft over Internet Explorer. Note that Win7 will ship without a browser in Europe!
