Trend Micro Draws Boycott Over AV Patent Case

Linux.com is reporting that in addition to the bad press, Trend Micro's patent case against Barracuda Networks' use of ClamAV has drawn an apparent boycott of Trend Micro. "Dutch free knowledge and culture advocacy group ScriptumLibre called for 'a worldwide boycott on Trend Micro products.' In its news release, ScriptumLibre summarizes the case, with its chairman, Wiebe van der Worp, describing Trend Micro's actions as 'well beyond the borders of decency.' The ScriptumLibre site includes link to free graphics that supporters can add to their Web pages to show their support and a call for IT professionals that provides a links to help people to educate themselves about the case and suggests a series of actions that people can take in the boycott." Linux.com and Slashdot are both owned by SourceForge Inc.

Boycott all commercial antivirus programs?

[Tom9729]

Isn't it time people start boycotting _all_ commercial antivirus programs?

The business model for most of these companies is nothing more than extortion (ie. pay up on your Norton subscription or we'll trash your Windows install).

Many OEM computers come with AV programs out of the box that are only good for several months. My aunt's computer was like this (a Dell). She's not very technical, so she didn't realize that she had to pay to keep something working that came free with her computer. After the "free trial" was up, Norton silently died leaving her computer vulnerable to all sorts of nasties (no firewall, on AOL dialup, yuck). The Norton uninstall program often does not work, leaving many of Nortons "hooks" still installed in the OS.

I've said it many times, all you need is a router and some common sense (not using Internet Explorer helps). If you really can't help clicking on "free ipod" ads, then fine use an antivirus program, but for god's sake don't use Norton, Trend Micro, or any of the subscription based crap that's out there.

And yes, I realize this article is not about Norton, but Norton and Trend Micro are in the same boat IMO.

The only good thing Trend Micro has ever made is their "House Call" virus scanner in Java. It's a nice way to clean up trashed pc's without having to install software (most PC's have Java already installed nowadays).

Re:Boycott all commercial antivirus programs?

[Atti K.]

The only antivirus I ever used, since the DOS era up to now on XP is F-Prot. No bloat, small and lightweight. Never had a virus. And of course, a router and common sense helps a lot.

Re:Mooted?

[gazbo]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mooted [reference.com]

Look up the meaning as a transitive verb. As a kind gesture I even used one of them colonial dictionaries that I assume represents your cultural persuasion. Some guys representing nobody in particular saying "Oh hay guys, maybe we shouldn't use Trend" is hardly an example of mass agreement from the throngs.

Re:Boycott all commercial antivirus programs?

[Kazrath]

Wow what a load of crap. Norton AV does not silently die when it expires it becomes more noisy than Windows Vista. People are fully aware that the subscription is up and it gives you instructions on how to renew it. My Dell laptop has a HUGE popup every time I log in even when I just shut the lid and keep the thing powered on.

You do realize that one of the major reasons you can pick up your cheapo dell/hp etc computer is the "Trialware" software on those boxes. They receive money to carry the software and in some cases receive more money to not carry someone else's software.

Re:Boycott all commercial antivirus programs?

[jonwil]

AVG Anti-Virus is good. Free for personal use, isn't full of bloat like Symantec or Mcafee and installs cleanly (uninstalling I dont know about since I have never uninstalled it)

Re:Boycott all commercial antivirus programs?

[coolbox]

Seeing as we're on the subject of Symantec I'll clue you all in to what is probably the finest piece of Software they've ever released. It's called Norton_Removal_Tool.exe, Search for it on their site. It's guaranteed to increase your PC's reliability and speed by several orders of magnitude. It does this by blasting away every trace of their AV / Internet security bloatware.

Re:Mooted?

[janrinok]

Not so - it is used quite frequently although perhaps not in your own country. In the UK it has no specific connection with legal matters.

Barracuda supports open source a whole lot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Barracuda does contribute a good amount to the open source community.

Check out the page at http://www.barracudanetworks.com/ns/company/open-source.php [barracudanetworks.com]

They have donated cash to Apache Foundation, FSF, and PopFile. They have donated hardware for development to ClamAV, ISC, lm-sensors, SURBL and others...
They operate mirrors for SaneSecurity, and SURBL free of charge.
They have donated $$ to Spamhaus.
They have donated a lot of code and sponsored several projects.
The project leader for the Psi Jabber Client project is a full time employee at Barracuda who is paid to lead the project.

How could you claim that Barracuda does not support open source?