OA AV+ may change AV engine or discontinue

I just thought it is interesting news for those that maybe think of buying OA AV+ in these days.

 

If Kaspersky would update its damn engine that it sales from 6 to 8 they might actually make some money.

 

This is actually good news... I dislike these all-in-one products. If I want an AV, I'll install one, but don't feed it to me with a firewall.

 

You can download the firewall alone. why would it matter if they made a suite out of it. as you have pretty much always have a choice of Installing the suite or not.

 

Well, because sooner or later, these vendors tend to abandon their standalone products in favor of similar bundles for the sake of passing one stupid test or another. Have seen this too many times lately.

 

And I still see many popular vendors keeping things simple or keeping them split up but also offering it all together if the user so chooses. that I don't mind seeing.

 

That is primarily due to the fact that Workstation editions of KAV remain at version 6. Most likely the engine and SDK will be updated when the new versions of the workstation editions are released.....

It is interesting to see that slowly vendors are ditching the Kaspersky engine.......First GDATA and now Online Armor.

 

Vendors have to keep with the times if they want to succeed. With kasper not updating the engine that they are leasing to corporations. they will start to jump ship like they are. the only one that loses in the end is Kaspersky.

 

beta testing for Kaspersky workstation and server 2009 products is about to start really soon...

 

"I think we're just too small for them to make any money from it." from initial quote does not sound like OA wanted to ditch the Kaspersky engine.
I assume every small company would like to license a big name, like Kaspersky, BitDefender, Avira or avast.
Or does anyone like or buy the Agnitum Suite?

Cheers

 

What would they say if they did want to ditch it?

 

Well, not really Fajo. Look at the marketing angle here:

1 - A company like OA acquires a license to bundle Kaspersky with their firewall, and advertises as such, so OA makes a good amount of money riding the Kaspersky name. Sure, OA is a big name firewall to *US*, but Joe Average doesn't know OA from a hole in the wall. They have, however, gone to Staples, best buy, etc and saw Kaspersky on the shelf. Probably have had it recommended to them. So OA profits by using Kaspersky's AV. Kaspersky, on the other hand, makes money selling their tech to OA. I ASSUME that they make a percentage off each sale, but even with a flat fee, Kaspersky still profits.

2 - By licensing out old tech, Kaspersky does two things: They lend their name to make both companies money, yet they don't cannibalize their own sales by giving out the current engine. Someone who KNOWS who OA is knows at least a little about security, and they'll either say "ooo, Kaspersky, I'll buy OA!" or "Well, OA is good but there's a new Kaspersky out. I'll buy the standalone OA FW, and KAV '09". I guarantee you Kaspersky makes a LOT more money selling their own product than it does having someone buy OA, so... There you go.

I'll be honest though, I miss the days of going to Target or Office Depot and being able to buy Defender Pro 5in1 (or 10in1 or whatever-in-1) and getting Kaspersky's latest AV and FW for under $5 for a year's license. Those were the days =)

 

Hey, I *still* get in my country the latest, real KIS 2009 for what would be $10 USD approx

Yes, I agree with this, and small companies using the Kaspersky engine also profit from using the Kaspersky engine as people who have had wind of Kaspersky know that it is the "same" (not really though ) award-winning protection.

Now here's where the issue lies. By licensing older versions of its engine, it still gives the smaller companies to market the same thing, that it is the award-winning protection of Kaspersky. And it is not mentioned anywhere that the detection rates will differ from the actual Kaspersky product, and it becomes misleading because due to this, it is not really the "same" anymore.

Also, as Kaspersky's focus shifts to the new engine, we might start seeing the old engine slip in terms of detection rates. If this happens and it slips to a level significantly below the latest version, the smaller companies will still keep advertising "award-winning Kaspersky protection". Awards won? Maybe, how long ago? Is it still the same now?

It becomes misleading to the customer, so I don't know how good a move this is for Kaspersky......

 

OA is not only KAV engine, what you say is missleading.
Award-winning OA protection is the entire product package not just the AV.

Just my 2c

Cheers,
Fax

 

No, no, I was not referring specifically to OA, I have seen KAV engine products which advertise "award winning protection by Kaspersky" for the AV component of the product, it was more a general statement than directed at OA. And in this context, what I said is correct

 

The detection rate on demand was pretty the same, I have tested KIS 2009 and OA AV+ recently.
As OA seemingly uses the KAV Engine like a remote controlled command line scanner, there is not much else to compare.

Otherwise, the AV+ version was not really an attractive offer, it was simply overpriced.
OA and Avira Premium (in Euro) were cheaper than OA AV+.

Cheers

 

Yeap, still basically the same between 0.5 to 1.5% difference.. (see, for example, the AV-Test.org). No enough yet to cause such a turmoil... and still better than many AV engines out there...

Cheers,
Fax

 

Yes, not a major concern just yet, but this is what I was referring to:

We cannot discount this possibility, but at the same time I will say this has not happened yet. But eventually Kaspersky will drop updates for the old engine because the new KLAVA technology from version 8 onwards uses a different format for virus definitions and over time it will only make sense to release some load on the analysts, uploaders and development to concentrate solely on the new engine (and drop some possible load on their servers )

Of course, if Kaspersky outright drops updates for the old engine, we will indeed see an SDK update. But before that, at least for a few months there may be decreased focus on the old engine, meaning a possibly lower detection rate. Today, the difference is fairly insignificant. However, as Kaspersky products advance, the delta might become greater.

What I am saying is that in a worst case scenario, this might prove to be just one rung below the actual Kaspersky product. Even if it still remains good, it may not be the "same award winning Kaspersky AV technology" anymore.

Although, we don't see any of that happening right now so I guess there is no need to worry at the moment.....

 

Kaspersky isn't the only fish in the sea. I'm sure a comparable or even better product is readily available. Mike just has to do some research and look at different possibilities. I'm sure this will turn out to be a blessing.

 

one of the best deals atm IMO is vipre SDK.
im hoping KL update there SDK soon so f-secure can lighten their products as well as improve detection.

 

honestly, i think online armor should scrap the AV+ product completely, OA is just too darn good to be tagged down by something, keep the product pure and people will use it with their own antivirus.

spend that extra little money on your own product, i think thats the best decision for OA.