Cost of Virus Scanner!

[Gerry Doris]

I have an old 486 that just won't die that I use for a mail server for my
home network.  I have a couple of Windows PC's on the network.

I read about MailScanner on the Linux Journal website and tracked it down
on Freshmeat.  I installed it on Wednesday without problems.  This is one
superb application!!!

I hadn't heard of Sophos but since MailScanner supported it I went ahead
and installed it too.  I was a little nervous as I couldn't find any
pricing on their website.  Well, I had a right to be.

I got a call yesterday from their US sales office.  Their sales rep told
me that the minimum license would be 50 seats (ie. to cover 50 PC's) at
$15 USD/seat!  Obviously, I am not going to pay $750 USD.  Sophos said
this is a commercial application and is not intended for home users.  He
felt it was competitive with similar packages from McAfee.

I suggest a warning be placed on the MailScanner website (and any other
site that carries MailScanner ie. Freshmeat) that it requires a commerical
virus scanner for full functionality.  The cost of these scanners
preclude home use.


Gerry
--
"The lyfe so short, the craft so long to learne" Chaucer