(OT) Re: [Mimedefang] Sophos is _very_ commercial

[Andrzej Marecki]

Loren K Louthan wrote:

> If you do not upgrade your virus scanner (regardless of 
> make/model/color) in 6 months, it IS NOT working! Sophos actually has 
> the right idea here, IMHO, by *forcing* the admin to keep it up to date. 

Just to clarify this. Sophos has a commercial "core" (libsavi.so + .vdb
files) plus the "last minute" virus signatures - the .ide files. The
latter ones are free. So at first sight it might look as if it _were_
possible to keep it fully functional and up-to-date without paying - just
fetching the .ide's as they appear. OK, so I made an experiment and...
it turned out there was a time bomb in Sophos commercial "core" files.
It goes off after ~1/2 year past the last update of libsavi.so and .vdb's.

> I believe it is 3 months, BTW. We pay every three years, and it's 
> (again, IMHO) worth every penny. Our offices have been virus free for 4+ 
> years now - between MD/SA/Sophos, and Sophos on the Desktops/File Servers.

FYI, we also do pay for our Sophos license. ;-) As I wrote above I just
made an experiment how old libsavi.so and .vdb behave.

--
Andrzej

P.S. Clamav responds more promptly to new viruses than Sophos.

AM