The original question was about ClamXAV, which doesn't belong in that "runs constantly in the background" category. [edit: i.e., by default... launch at login, scan scheduling, and sentry watch are all disabled.]
Sorry - I should have been clearer - I was referring to the Sophos AV - I'm quite aware that ClamAVX does not run in the background.
Sorry that I missed seeing their workaround there, Hal. It was posted some 8 minutes before I finished this post, so in all likelihood, it wasn't there when I looked.
And 60 responses in 2 days (there are now 65, not all of them from unhappy Bootcamp types, BTW) was significant enough to give one pause. There will always be more people
complaining in a support forum - obviously. When assessing potential new software, I look for consistency of both good and bad experiences - and in particular, bad experiences that cannot be chalked up to user incompetence.
Yeah well, google is "free" too... yet somehow they're "worth" billions.
Sunil from Sophos responds to the "Why is it free?" question with a bit more detail:
Re: Why is it free?
Options
11-08-2010 02:44 AM
Hi pixturesk
Thanks for the question. To clarify what we mean about providing this software for free let me provide some more detail.
We intend to support this software version for free until the time comes to retire it (and we have no plans or timescale in mind as to when this will be). For all users on the free version we will provide protection updates until the retirement date. We tend to provide at least 12 months notice of any product retirement; this allows customers and users sufficient time to plan and we would provide a similar notice period for this product.
Trust this clears it up and gives you enough information to recommend it within your groups.
Warm regards
Sunil
Why free? C'mon Sunil...it's not because you love Macs (as he states in a previous post) you (Sophos) love that you've got a potential new market - even though that market may be based largely on FUD. Offer it free, reel them in, then start charging. Get people used to/thinking they "need" Sophos AV at home and sooner or later, that "need" will be extended to the enterprise environment, where it is not free.
SophosAV Home Edition for Macs...a gateway AV.
Of course, it's possible that Sophos will always offer their home edition for Macs free, just as AVAST and AVG do on the Windows side, but with Sunil's hedging, I suspect that this is not the case. Time will tell. Generally the model these AV producers follow is to offer a basic edition free and then further features are available in a paid version. Some people actually want or need the features of the paid version - some probably just think they do.
Avast's CEO talked to ZDNet Asia in May about their model:
http://www.zdnetasia.com/avast-freemium-is-very-profitable-62063054.htm
