Acronis TI, "Best of the Best"

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Brian K, Sep 6, 2005.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2005
    Posts:
    12,115
    Location:
    NSW, Australia
    http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/pr/2005/pr02-01.html

    This page claims:
    "Irvine, CA; South San Francisco, CA, February 1, 2005 — Readers of Redmond magazine named Acronis True Image preferred product for "Drive Imaging", according to results published in the January 2005 "Best of the Best" issue."

    The Redmond magazine page: http://www.redmondmag.com/features/article.asp?EditorialsID=453

    The results:
    http://download.101com.com/redmond/pdf/0501red_best.pdf

    On page 3 of the results you will see that Acronis TI received 6.9% of the votes in its category. I was amused and disappointed with Acronis for making the claim re "preferred product". It may have been in the top 5 of the "Best Drive Imaging Product" category but 6.9% of votes is insufficient support for making such an ambiguous claim.

    Anyone see it differently?
     
  2. Dazed_and_Confused

    Dazed_and_Confused Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2004
    Posts:
    1,831
    Location:
    USA
    It's called "Marketing".
     
  3. Detox

    Detox Retired Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2002
    Posts:
    8,507
    Location:
    Texas, USA
    Read the beginning of the PDF you linked...

    Thus, they are being absolutely 100% honest as they were ranked #2 and are thus either the first or only preferred product in the imaging catagory. #1 is called the "winner." It's not just "marketing," but honesty.
     
  4. powerchuck

    powerchuck Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2005
    Posts:
    7
    I have two systems a Dell Latitude C810 (Pre-N wireless networked) running Win2K SP4 and a Dell Dimension 4400 WinXP Home SP2 with a 300GB USB2.0 external back up drive attached.

    I run TI on both systems and they both back up ,one over the wireless network, to the 300GB drive via Acronis TI 8.0.....

    I have had to completely restore the Win2K system after a system crash. A system with unreplaceable software that is critical to my business.

    I have used TI (via the external drive - this time attached with firewire cable) to upgrade the laptop from a 20GB to a 40GB drive

    I have used TI to upgrade the Desktop from a 40GB to 120GB using disk clone.

    Let me tell you Acronis TI rocks! It has saved my butt and saved me both time and money. It is a critical part of my business' disaster recovery plan which is required in my business and it is simple.

    Oh sure there are some quirks and I wish tech support was quicker but for every problem I have found a solution either on my own or in this forum.

    You can call it marketing or whatever but this software works - it makes an exact copy and saves the end user from the alternative of reinstall windows... reinstall all software... reinstall all data.... pray you didn't forget something...pray it works..... Why Because this works!

    Could It be easier - sure I guess - more features - sure better network support and the ability for my networked computer to see the secure zone would be great. But in the end if you follow a religious back up schedule (easy with the scheduler) and take 30 minutes to back up your systems again before doing anything serious you have an awesome safety net - I have no idea where I would be if I hadn't found TI.
     
  5. MaverickOP

    MaverickOP Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 24, 2005
    Posts:
    26
    Daisey is spot on. How do we know the so called study was done objectively? Just like the countless "studies" on AV programs I've seen, this so called claim to #1 doesn't hold much water. Of course you'll see that sort of self-praise on here - this is the "official" forum for ATI. :rolleyes:

    I agree ATI is a darn good product, but I would consider Drive Image just as viable and just as effective as ATI. However, now that Symantec has acquired them, I have to lable it as "Norton Ghost".
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2005
  6. Detox

    Detox Retired Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2002
    Posts:
    8,507
    Location:
    Texas, USA
    Has anyone read the PDF before commenting here at all?
     
  7. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2004
    Posts:
    4,661
    Location:
    Menorca (Balearic Islands) Spain
    Yes, and I agree with you entirely. Acronis never claimed to be the winner of its category; merely that it came out as one of the preferred products.

    #1 = Symantec Ghost - Winner
    #2 = Acronis TrueImage - Preferred Product (as defined at the beginning of the results)
    #3 = PowerQuest Drive Image Pro - Preferred Product (as defined at the beginning of the results)

    Regards
     
  8. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2005
    Posts:
    12,115
    Location:
    NSW, Australia
    Thanks guys, we all see it differently.

    I was amused with the survey. Winners and preferred products. Winners aren’t even a preferred product. I can understand a preferred product with say 30% of the vote, but 6.9%, is that anything special? But that is the survey’s definition.

    Sure, it’s a survey of readers of a particular magazine. Personally, I don’t place much stock on the first, second or last place-getter in these surveys. It could be the opposite in a different survey. It depends on the sample. But Acronis did. They ran with it. Even with 6.9% of the vote they advertised “Redmond Magazine Readers Choose Acronis True Image as a Product They Love” and “Readers of Redmond magazine named Acronis True Image preferred product for "Drive Imaging". Now I don’t think the typical reader of that advertisement would know that “preferred product” could be obtained with only 6.9% of the vote.

    Hey, I use and like Acronis TI but I’m not fond of deception. Some may see the advertisement as honest but I don’t see integrity. Did they tell the whole story?
     
  9. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2004
    Posts:
    4,661
    Location:
    Menorca (Balearic Islands) Spain
    Hi Brian,

    I agree, the problem is Redmond Magazine's use of the term "Preferred Product", which tends to make you think that their readers preferred that product over all others in the same category. Clearly, it would be much better if they used a term such as "Runner Up".

    Unfortunately, readers of the Acronis Press Release do not get to see Redmond Magazine's definition of a "Preferred Product". However, I don't blame the Acronis "Marketeers" for taking advantage of Redmond Magazine's ambiguous terminology. After all, that's what those guys (would you buy a used car from this man?!!) get paid to do.

    Regards
     
  10. dld

    dld Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 6, 2005
    Posts:
    480
    I think the Acronis "Marketeers" would be better to emphasize the rating given Acronis True Image by Smart Computing where ATI is rated first of three imaging software programs reviewed or by PC Magazine in their September 6 issue where ATI lost out to Norton Ghost 9.0 by a whisker mainly it would seem because of the inability of ATI to image directly to DVDs.
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2005
  11. bobdat

    bobdat Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2005
    Posts:
    316
    It's all about terminology and semantics.

    Do you know the difference between a "lie" and "hype"?

    A Lie is a factual distortion. Hype is a distortion of fact.

    No one likes a Liar. However, we all accept Hype in advertising.

    The bottom line: TrueImage 8 is a generally good product and it's my preferred product. Therefore, it's number 1 with me.

    I also own Ghost 9 and find that it's a generally good product but it's not my preferred product for the things I regularly do. Therefore, it's #2 with me.

    What is always troublesome is that there are people everywhere who use hype to misrepresent the facts and then lie about whether they misrepresented the facts.
    :doubt:
     
  12. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2004
    Posts:
    3,710
    Re: Best of the Best

    In this tally, you get to vote for, not against. So only those that have favorable views of a product vote. Matters? Sure. If you look at the market share of the products, you'd expect Ghost to have a preponderance of votes. If they tallied "negative" votes, Ghost, undoubtedly, would have scored highest on that catgory also.

    The intersting thing is when someone has used more than one product and has reasons for preferring one over another.

    Otoh, one could argue that market share should count as weight towards postive votes -- in that case, why tally votes at all? Why not just look at market share? Folks tend to buy what everyone else seems to buy -- How else do you explaint he success of SAP, PeopleSoft, Symantec. . . Kelly Clarkson o_O?? ;-) Put another way, it's not wise to read much into sales pitches or popularity votes. Based on popularity, the Big Mac is apparently the best meal in America?
     
  13. dld

    dld Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 6, 2005
    Posts:
    480
    Hi Shieber.. I think you hit the nail on the head with your explanation. I was really finding these results puzzling in light of the reviews of Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image appearing in computing magazines. I guess the Redmond magazine survey is flawed, period.
     
  14. bobdat

    bobdat Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2005
    Posts:
    316
    "Has anyone read the PDF before commenting here at all?"

    As Detox rightfully asked, reading the entire article carefully causes the reader to conclude that a "preferred" product is not a "winner". Therefore, Acronis is completely honest in its ad claims.

    However, one could question why Acronis would want to cite such a mediocre editorial as a testimonial. If that had been my only reference I would have bought Ghost instead. Acronis has received much better press from other credible publications as was stated previously.

    As for the survey itself, the result rankings are meaningless because you're just about guaranteed to become a "preferred" product if an insignificant number of respondents mention you at all unless your product shares a very crowded field of competitiors, which drive imagers do not.

    As the owner of both Ghost 9 and TrueImage 8 I can say I don't like Ghost 9 because it won't image my entire Dell hard drive and restore it so the restore partitions function. TrueImage 8 does it just fine. Oh yes, I can do it with Ghost 2003 which is included with Ghost 9 but then I have to work in DOS and I just can't come to terms with that. Too geeky for me.

    My interpretation of the Redmond article is that Ghost is far more popular with geeky IT-types, which comprise their subscriber base. Ghost has been around for a long time compared to TrueImage. IT geeks can be very reluctant to migrate away from a difficult-to-use geeky product like Ghost and adopt a newer, easy-to-use product like TrueImage 8. Their familiarity with Ghost and their sometimes apparent desire to shroud their support function in mystery also may account for their preference for the geekier product....the one less likely to be understood or, God forbid, successfully utilized by their clients.

    For the non-"support professional" computer user, TrueImage 8 seems to be the right choice in today's computing environment when looking for an easy to use drive imaging product.
     
  15. myluvnttl

    myluvnttl Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2004
    Posts:
    150
    I run True Image, Ghost before and I chose True Image with no question, even for the 1,025 dollars it's still worth every penny in gold.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.