My Progress: AntiVirus Software Roundup

[Gerry Doris]

> Just wanted to let everyone know that I have placed calls with every
> antivirus vendor supported by MailScanner. A few of the companies have
> been responsive and willing to entertain an alternative licensing model.
> In one case, I talked directly with a high-level executive (one of the
> smaller vendors, obviously). In another conversation, I could hear the
> the wheels churning over the phone. The smart, on-the-ball vendors know
> that "email scanning services" are a flourishing market, and I think
> many are struggling with how to get involved.
>
> In short, this has been my pitch to the vendors that would listen:
>
> * Per user or per mailbox licensing models are cost prohibitive for
> those of us that scan email for multiple domains and businesses. Plus,
> for those of us that simply scan and forward the email, this licensing
> model doesn't really fit, it can be difficult to track,  and it's
> definitely cost prohibitive. Unfortunately, most vendors license the
> products by user (there are one or two exceptions). But as I've
> discovered, some of them (usually the smaller ones) are willing to
> entertain alternatives.
> * We're not really interested in a scanner that integrates directly with
> the MTA (such as f-prot's new mail server option). We simply want a
> lightweight command line scanner that runs in Linux and catches viruses
> consistently
> * Many of us are looking for affordable alternatives and many of us are
> moving away from f-prot and other vendors that have priced us out of
> using their product(s). Any vendor that can put a good deal on the table
> (that can be used by all of us) could potentially see a marked increase
> in business. Obviously, this sort of statement gets their attention (and
> it's not a lie). In some cases, I actually pointed out problems with
> some of their competitors and used other competitors as good examples.
>
> I will continue to post my progress, and will ultimately deliver a full
> roundup of each supported scanner--including the licensing model,
> whether they offered an alternative, the potential costs, and the
> vendor's overall responsiveness. As you might expect, I'm still waiting
> for some of them to return my calls.
>
> Nathan
>

Just a thought here for those who are running ClamAV on large commercial
servers...

Perhaps a donation to the ClamAV folks in lieu of a license fee might be
appropriate.  They provide a reasonable product at an unreasonable
price...free!

Gerry