Avast Claims Single Pro License Installed 774,651 Times Around The Globe
from the that's-a-lot dept
In yet another case of a copyright holder turning "piracy" into publicity, security firm Avast has been making some news after watching a single pro license apparently "go viral" on file sharing sites, leading it to be installed 774,651 times around the globe. The company is claiming it's been installed in 200 countries -- including two computers in Vatican City. Of course, this might raise some skepticism, because depending on who you talk to there are fewer than 200 countries in the world (though, others claim there are more -- so... who knows). Either way, it does appear that Avast has turned the whole thing into a publicity stunt, both with the press coverage, and popping up a note on those 774,561 installs, urging people to switch to legit versions (including the company's popular free version).Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Being an ESET reseller though, I use the in-house licenses that they give me, so I'm not going to swap to Avast.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The trouble with quibbles...
How about facts instead? There are 239 current ISO 3166 Country Codes USED BY COMPUTER AND DATABASE SYSTEMS. Plus dozens more that have been deleted or are in transition.
http://userpage.chemie.fu-berlin.de/diverse/doc/ISO_3166.html
And that's not even counting any that might have been entered or reported to their system incorrectly.
Hey Mike, why don't you contact them and get some facts, instead of simply making fun of numbers it's clear that you don't understand anyway.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The trouble with quibbles...
And if you actually looked at them, you'd realize that many of them are not actually for countries, but territories, and some are for places that have no residents.
I linked to the explanation of how many actual countries there are. It's a lot more complex than how many "country codes" there are.
it's clear that you don't understand anyway.
I always know when I'm right: it's when people claim I don't understand something.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: The trouble with quibbles...
Over the years, they probably have over 200 such locations reported and stored in their database, and did a database query to count them. Or would you been happier if they'd said, "over 200 countries, territories, and locations, including a few countries that have been renamed, and some that no longer exist?"
Feel better now?
Regardless, you're quibbling over a simple technicality in what, for you, is an extremely lame attempt to discredit them and their findings. I really expect better from you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Their name encourages piracy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Their name encourages piracy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
And I'd say they've handled it in a rather reasonable way too. At least if the reports are true.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Software Piracy Business Intelligence
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Software Piracy Business Intelligence
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Software Piracy Business Intelligence
If the business wasn't going to buy your product anyways then... no loss.
If the business is made aware that they could get better support for their products by paying a software fee which is far below normal and they go for that... then you just made money you would not have made anyways.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Software Piracy Business Intelligence
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Software Piracy Business Intelligence
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
But then again, it is easier to monetize by making a weak license protection system and then prosecuting.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Some people converted
Global marketing is expensive and nearly impossible for a small company. Avast saw what happened as a marketing opportunity. That seems like it would be a more profitable approach than the approaches taken by some other companies and organizations.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Avast
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Donationware
With all the free avast alternatives out there (even avast itself) it's kind of interesting to me that so many people are pirating the 'pro' version anyway.
Personally I find myself MUCH more willing to donate to useful free products online than to pay ridiculous prices in order to be a 'privileged' retail customer (who will inevitably have to pay again for a new version when the next major release comes out)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's a strategy
I worked for a software company that intentionally named a product too similar to one offered by Microsoft. They counted on Microsoft filing a trademark lawsuit in order to get PR from the lawsuit. It was a marketing strategy.
To their credit, Microsoft never filed that lawsuit. Our product eventually died.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This was a great viral marketing campaign for avast.
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 9/12/2010
Tested on: 10/12/2010 7:51:19 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2010 AVAST Software.
Avast chose to let this run for almost 18mths and then gloat about how many pirated copies they "detected". Who's fault is that?
Running a sting operation such as this does not help their credibility as reputable software vendor.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: This was a great viral marketing campaign for avast.
If anything, Avast's response to this should be the model for all companies to react to piracy. Work with the people, rather than against the people.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
reinstall
I am living in canada!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]