Grisoft celebrates 15 years of success ... by killing their free software. Not.
Don Patterson (aka DP) passes on a press release from GRISOFT, makers of AVG anti-virus software, noting that they are celebrating 15 years of success.
Congratulations to them, and definitely it's wonderful to see variety in the antivirus space, but I am surprised to see one statement in the press release:
"The AVG Free Edition and all-inclusive suite AVG Internet Security, which protects users against all common Internet risks like viruses, spyware, spam and hacker attacks, has helped raise awareness of the AVG product line."
So, if AVG Free Edition is such a helpful marketing tool, why is GRISOFT terminating that SKU in January?
At least, that's what I wondered when I saw the box pop up on my test machine at home.
"AVG Free 7.1 version will be discontinued on 15th of Jan 2007." [Yeah, I'll see if I can pop in a picture of the dialog]
I was irritated, dismissed the dialog, and carried on with the work I had to do.
It's only while researching the blog posting you're reading that I discover the awful truth - that GRISOFT have released a new version, AVG Free 7.5, that is downloadable from their free web site, for free, and which continues to provide free virus protection for private, non-commercial, single home computer use only.
So, again congratulations to GRISOFT for their fifteen years of continued success, and congratulations to them for continuing to support the tightwad and the impecunious alike.
But no congratulations to whoever designed that dialog, which gave me the first impression that GRISOFT were going to remove free service from many people who, if it weren't for a free antivirus solution, would have no anti-virus solution (other than "call Alun when something goes awry").