Users and resellers of RAV AntiVirus, popular especially
on Linux platforms, are in limbo after Microsoft's decision to buy
the RAV technology from Romania's GeCAD Software.
Microsoft said it would discontinue the RAV product
line once the acquisition of the technology is complete. GeCAD,
which claims its products protect more than 10 million users
worldwide, will support existing customers through the end of their
contracts.
The acquisition has observers questioning Microsoft's ultimate
intentions and wondering what the software maker wants with
technology that powers leading virus scanning tools for e-mail
servers on Linux platforms, rivals to Microsoft's Windows and
Exchange products.
"I don't know why Microsoft bought a Linux company, GeCAD's
Windows business is really small compared to their Linux business,"
said Andreas Marx, an antivirus software expert at the University
of Magdeburg in Germany.
Marx has just completed a test of GeCAD's antivirus software for
Linux and found that GeCAD "is really the best antivirus solution
for Linux".
GeCAD's RAV AntiVirus for Mail Servers supports a host of e-mail
server products, including the free Sendmail, Qmail and Postfix,
and is available for a variety of operating systems, including many
flavours of Linux and BSD. Pricing per e-mail domain instead of per
mailbox is another major draw for users, experts and users
said.
Marx sees the takeover as a big blow to Linux users especially.
"There are alternatives, users can switch to other antivirus
solutions, but it won't be very easy because RAV has many special
features," he said.
"There is room for a conspiracy theory here. It could be
possible that Microsoft wants to stop the solution for Linux."
Microsoft's Security Business Unit group manager Amy Carroll
insisted the company was just interested in GeCAD's antivirus
engine and its programmers.
"We acquired the assets and the technology because of the
quality of the technology and because the team is a good fit. It
would be hard to find an antivirus vendor who did not have products
on multiple platforms," she said.
GeCAD resellers in the UK, US and Canada said the bulk of their
RAV sales are sales of RAV Antivirus for e-mail servers on a Linux
platform.
Asgher Ali, sales manager at GeCAD reseller Axia Computer
Systems in Watford, said it was "a shame" that RAV products will
disappear. The majority of the 60 or so customers who bought RAV
products from Axia bought them for Sendmail on Linux, he said.
Microsoft was likely to have been interested in picking up good
technology cheap, Katz said. But he doesn't discount the
possibility that Microsoft also relished the opportunity to take a
jab at its rivals in the Linux community.
"In my view, RAV was purchased because of its integrated virus
and scan engine to add into their products. It was probably dirt
cheap and maybe Microsoft got the added benefit of sticking it in
the side of Linux users," said Michael Katz, president of RAE
Internet in New York, the sole distributor of RAV Antivirus in the
US. More than half of RAE's RAV customers use the software for
Linux mail servers, he added.
"I was shocked by the takeover, RAV AntiVirus is a very good
product and it was gaining market share. It would have become a
strong market leader in the Linux market."
Joe MacDonald, owner of GeCAD reseller Focus Computer
Consulting in British Columbia, believed the Romanian company was
made an offer it could not refuse, but added that the takeover was
a "step in the wrong direction for RAV".
About 90% of the customers buying RAV from Focus Computer
bought it for mail servers on Linux, he said.
Joris Evers and Paul Roberts writes for IDG News
Service