What do you make of this?
cheers
Melih
The article could be better. But i hold this:
“This slowing is most likely a combination of the late release of our 2006 consumer products in the quarter, a lack of high profile threat activity and competitive pressures across the various consumer channels.”
Image. They’re not doing so well. Well, i would have to be better acquainted with the industry, but this is my perception. Symantec’s image is dropping. How fast, i don’t know.
They buy companies, presto, we have imaging solutions, etc. Reactions: good products now reviewed as poorly continued.
The AV: Kaspersky and NOD are getting good reviews, their marketing is agressive, and so on. Also for home, Antivir, Avast! and AVG are free.
Comodo, world domination! ;D
I think the only reason Symantec are so widely used is because their products are installed on nearly every PC you buy. Many people don’t realise there are far superior products that are also free (i.e. Comodo ;)).
Fortunatley, people are being more educated about the dangers and are looking at other security products which will protect them much better than Symantec’s - look how many people have said on these forums and other forums (e.g. avast!) that Comodo / avast! antivirus detected a number of viruses that Symantec missed. Surely this is evidence enough to change?
And don’t get me started on what I’ve been through with Norton Ghost… :
Mike
Well Symantec’s products aren’t really getting much better, and their detection in malware is starting to go down, so this seems like it was going to happen eventually.
Ghost???
You really should have a look at Paragon Drive Backup.
or Paragon Hard disk Manager
http://www.paragon-software.com/hdm/home/personal/
Both work really, really well.
Cheers,
Ewen
I know, I should have had more sense :-[. Anyway, I have been using Acronis True Image 10 lately which has worked really well, but I will check out Paragon.
Thanks Ewen. 
Mike
That is what can happen when you gobble up the competition, and dis-continue their products, knowing full well that they(symantech) are the worst…
People do not like to be forced into submission; not to mention last years big compromise of the symantech’s coporate edition programs, allowing a lot of information to be accessed-Hmmm
Reap what you sow-Heh (:CLP)
Ha!
Back when “Peter Norton” was running things, Norton’s stuff was top flight!
Symantec has, in my humble opinion, managed to balls-up every decent piece of software they’ve ever acquired.
Case in point: PowerQuest had some of the slickest disk management tools out there - and their “DriveCopy” program made Ghost look like a sick dog by comparison.
So - what happens? Symantec’s mantra must be “if you can’t beat 'em, buy 'em!” They bought PQ and totally buried DriveCopy… (which I have never forgiven them for…)
I now use qtparted (on the Knoppix “live” DVD - free download people!) - to do my partition management.
I haven’t found a good substitute for DC yet - (and yes, I’ve heard of Acronis - but last I checked, they were not even CLOSE to “inexpensive” ;D - and if you want to back up a W2k “server” - you need to spend the huge $$$ for their “server” versions! (It’s the same ■■■■ thing - but when it detects a “server” system - the cheaper version stops, whereas the “server” version continues…)
Symantec’s products have blown donkey wind for years and years. Reviewer after reviewer has mentioned that Symantec’s solutions often fall somewhere between “abysmal” and “you gotta’ be KIDDING me!” (I read a commentator somewhere - don’t remember exactly where - who said that, as bad as the “windows” firewall in XP was, it was far better to use that, than to go out and buy Symantec’s product - which did little to no better, and caused innumerable system headaches as well. NAV has - as long as I’ve known it - caused huge issues on every stinking system - and I do mean EVERY - that I’ve installed it on.
I wouldn’t touch Symantec’s products with a “39-1/2 foot pole” - even if I was paid to!
And now - after years and years and years of selling slipshod, poorly designed, worse executed products to unsuspecting people - they’re now seeing their market share collapse and stock prices fall?..
In that big Government Catalog I always refer to, it’s filed under the letter “R”:
River, Cry Me A
Hey, just [vacuum’s] being them, 'eh? If they had a product that could hit the broad side of a barn, with a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun from three feet away - they’d have something.
Unfortunately, they can’t even do that much w/o falling on their [donkey].
Tough nuggies. You won’t see ME shedding any tears for 'em.
Jim
Ewen,
“Da bi*ch-part” (as they say) is that PQDI (Drive Image) worked on my W2k Server installation right out of the box - but paragon wants something like 500 simeoleans for the same thing. I think that’s a bit pricey, just to back up a W2k Server box.
Jim
I have to agree with you on Symantec, JB. I have often wondered how they stay in business. They just keep shooting themselves in the foot. This is what happens when so-called “Money Managers” get hold of a company. They start worrying about how much money they are making instead of whether the product is any good or not. I haven’t used anything Norton in years because it would just drain all life from the PC.
jasper
For imaging, pure, simple and reliable, it seems that Shadow Protect from Storage Craft is one of, if not THE best.
People over at Wilders forums have been testing, and this one seems to not fail. But it does not do partition management. Search Wilders for discussions about BING / IFW / IFD (from Terabyte, another praised company), Shadow Protect, Acronis True Image. You’ll find some great discussions, like this one:
(this is a huge topic, but it pays off)