Is Online Armor Free Being Discontinued?

I went to my site and clicked the link I had to the Online Armor Free site (http://www.online-armor.com/products-online-armor-free.php), and got a 404 error. So I Googled Online Armor, and was taken here:

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/oa/

However, nowhere does it say anything about a free version. It even at the bottom says, "No, it isn't free - but it's affordable." The download button starts downloading, and doesn't let you select any sort of version.

So is OA Free discontinued?

 

It is still continued. I think if you download it, it will be the free version unless you put in the reg key for the premium version.

 

If that's true, they should put on their website in the trial area, that after the 30 day trial, you can either buy a key, or revert to the free version.

 

So they use the same kind of wordings as Emsisoft Anti-Malware to entice customers now.

 

Yeah, I guess thats pretty misleading
you can always check softpedia, it's always there.

 

As far as i remember,the installer works for both versions.At installation,it asks if you want to activate a 30 days trial,and bellow,with tiny-winy letters you can click and choose the freeware version.(it can be overlook very easily...)
And i agree,they should state on their site more clearly about the free version.

 

Brilliant strategy! Now every user who had used the free version up till now will buy the paid version. Every vendor should do this I suppose.

Jokes aside, I really doubt there would be much added revenue. Granted, some users wouldn't want to give up their security application of choice and would pay to continue using it, but the (vast) majority of users would simply look for an alternative. Perhaps if it was a lifetime license (one-time fee), then there would be more sense to actually pay. But an yearly subscritpion for a HIPS product? Seems a bit greedy. For an antivirus/antimalware product it makes some sense - new malware is released every day, so definitions need to be updated, etc. But for a HIPS product it makes much less sense. I mean what is there to update? The whitelists, the occasional bug/incompatibility? Do these things really justify a subscription fee?

 

An old native American Indian saying: Don't criticize another person until you have walked in their moccasins for an entire cycle of the moon (one month). Have ANY OF YOU who are jumping down OA's throat here, tried to run an entire company for any length of time, paying employees salaries, rent, electric bills, and especially programing time to keep their security program equal to the competitions fast development (and just how many of THEM are free anymore or for how long?) Don't get me wrong, I can find criticism too with OA, especially with their tech support in the past (I won't mention any of their forum tech support names no matter how tempting ). But come on, some programs are worth a price.

Acadia

 

Advanced Mode and Banking Mode do.
.

 

Actually it,s all a matter of ethics that sadly seem non-existent in today's business. I don,t mind paid software or even yearly fee. If people want it they will pay for it otherwise it will be dead. That's the rule of economy. However I do want them to be straight forward and very clear if they offer a free version rather than beating round the bush.

It,s just my opinion.

I will be really sad to see OA dying. One the few classical HIPS that are surviving for some time. If it dies, i don,t see any other choice left except for Comodo and who knows how long that will survive too.

BTW I suspect emsisoft has problems with the development of this product since they bought it. Tall emu days are gone long long ago. Soooo sad indeedT

 

Actually there isn't already page of OA Free...only paid version...hmmm...it's sad due to all earlier mentioned comments but also can be obvious due to all financial aspects of this matter.
But good news is...still...that we have possibility to have free version what we can see at the end of installation before rebooting system - see on screenshot

 

Can also be changed via Options --> License --> Activate another key, if anyone already installed the trial version.

 

I'd rather to see OA become a totally paid product if that would ensure the future development, TBH.

 

Totally agree with this

 

Thanks for letting us know. We moved the Online Armor related webservices to a new server. Usually all old URLs should redirect to the Online Armor product page on emsisoft.com, but for some sites this hasn't been the case. It should be fixed now.

Online Armor setups have been the same for the free and paid versions for years now. So I am kind of surprised you are confused by it now, as nothing has changed.

The OA product page on the Emsisoft homepage has stayed the same for the past 1 or 2 years. But I can forward your criticism and we will see what we can do.

 

Spare me the double standard please. Of course I can criticize a person. If noone was to ever criticize another person or company (or whatever) unless one has been in the same shoes, then a huge number of posts on any forum (this one included) would become invalid. People criticize other people/companies all the time. Just look at how many people criticize/flame... oh I don't know... how about... Microsoft.
I'm sure you, the purest of us all, have done it as well.

I didn't say that no programs are worth paying for or that Online Armor isn't worthy of a price tag. I just expressed my opinion (last I checked I am entitled to one) that a subscirption fee seems greedy, esepecially with no free version available.

However now we know that there is still a free version available, so all of you fanboys can calm down.

 

LOL, me pure? Please don't even mention that possibility to my wife or my best friends!

Acadia

 

Just get a license!
OA is like one of the last true HIPS out there. I hope they keep developing it.

 

Great product the only other truly authentic hips inclusive firewalls are Comodo and private firewall both free and also good.

 

OA fails Shields Up.

 

Shields Up is an obsolete tool except maybe for XP.

And if you're behind a router, you'll pretty much always fail.

 

I am behind a router and with my firewall (not OA) the only thing I fail is 'ping' when the router responds to it during the test.

 

Yeah, but that your firewall on your system has nothing to do with these results, unless your router provides DMZ features and you use them. Quite frankly the Shields Up would show the same results with no firewall at all.

The general problem is, that if you do have a router, any port scan performed from the outside by sites like Shields Up will scan the router, not your PC.