Advice Request Why Avast still keeps AVG software?

[fabiobr]

Since it's basically the same software and engine, any bets why they still keep the AVG software?

And AVG has been delayed product updates? I imagine they put efforces to main product which is Avast.

 

[BVLon]

Since it's basically the same software and engine, any bets why they still keep the AVG software?

And AVG has been delayed product updates? I imagine they put efforces to main product which is Avast.

My guess is because both products hold different markets and maybe many people will not be happy switching, even tho it's literally become the same thing.
I don't think you've got a reason to worry if you are an AVG user. Avast won't dare to shut them down quite yet.

 

[XLR8R]

Because at the time of acquisition, most of the free/paid users were die-hards, the competition for them was always AVG or Avast, and one who used either would not consider the other.

This also meant that doing an immediate shutdown of either AVG/Avast would mean a massive and sudden erosion of userbase, which would be very bad for two things: (i) Their cloud engine and (ii) The investors.

At the time of acquisition, AVG was a publicly traded firm with holdings from multiple firms, Avast was a private company. There were expectations to meet from the investors of AVG. To ensure that the investment into the purchase was worth the effort, the continued existence of the AVG brand was required.

Avast, as of 2019, estimates a good 3 years of value still to be generated by the AVG brand. That means, we're getting AVG branded products till 2021, complete with all developer references and driver names rebranded as AVG. Right now, AVG is an "independently developed product with Avast code". That will change, sometime in 2021/22 to "AVG by Avast" i.e. a rebranded product with all internal components Avast branded.

They may or may not keep the AVG brand running - as the aim for the company was to move Avast up the ladder to Enterprise/Business while AVG remains as a consumer oriented/free solution.

This was before the new Jumpshot controversy - now, with the revenue stream and bad press due to Jumpshot controversy, they may keep AVG running separately for longer (because AVG was less affected by this as the majority of articles were based on Avast).

 

[BVLon]

Because at the time of acquisition, most of the free/paid users were die-hards, the competition for them was always AVG or Avast, and one who used either would not consider the other.

This also meant that doing an immediate shutdown of either AVG/Avast would mean a massive and sudden erosion of userbase, which would be very bad for two things: (i) Their cloud engine and (ii) The investors.

At the time of acquisition, AVG was a publicly traded firm with holdings from multiple firms, Avast was a private company. There were expectations to meet from the investors of AVG. To ensure that the investment into the purchase was worth the effort, the continued existence of the AVG brand was required.

Avast, as of 2019, estimates a good 3 years of value still to be generated by the AVG brand. That means, we're getting AVG branded products till 2021, complete with all developer references and driver names rebranded as AVG. Right now, AVG is an "independently developed product with Avast code". That will change, sometime in 2021/22 to "AVG by Avast" i.e. a rebranded product with all internal components Avast branded.

They may or may not keep the AVG brand running - as the aim for the company was to move Avast up the ladder to Enterprise/Business while AVG remains as a consumer oriented/free solution.

This was before the new Jumpshot controversy - now, with the revenue stream and bad press due to Jumpshot controversy, they may keep AVG running separately for longer (because AVG was less affected by this as the majority of articles were based on Avast).

Avast is not the brightest company. They should’ve tried to migrate all users to them and that can be done in many ways. With free “license extensions”, free premium versions or services and many other resources and then divert all efforts towards one brand. Had it been Kaspersky or Symantec, AVG would’ve been past by now. But Avast is a company that has no idea how to run a businesses. Thus, they keep wasting MONEY working on 2 brands.
“If we kill AVG they will go to vendors A, B and C” is their logic here. They don’t think that they can actually move the user to Avast, without letting them go to the competition.

Simply offering a free AVG user 1 year of the cheapest Avast product and outlining that they now share technologies and produce same results on independent tests will be enough for the users to forget AVG and move on.

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

Had it been Kaspersky or Symantec, AVG would’ve been past by now. But Avast is a company that has no idea how to run a businesses. Thus, they keep wasting MONEY working on 2 brands.

Yup, don't forget the whole we'll offer a free version that does 98% of what our paid offerings do. Instead of charging for their product, they are afraid to lose all their customers, so they instead turn to jumpshot and start collecting/selling their customer's data. Yup, good business from a security company.

 

[oldschool]

They should’ve tried to migrate all users to them and that can be done in many ways.

@XLR8R is right.

I still have a sweet spot for AVG. While I'm not inclined to use it, I would NEVER use Avast for this reason alone. There really is such a thing as brand loyalty - no matter how much sense/nonsense it makes.

 

[Arequire]

Fully explained here:

Avast and AVG become one

Avast Software CEO, Vince Steckler, announces the completion of the acquisition of a majority stake in AVG Technologies.

blog.avast.com

 

[S M G]

I hope Avast shut down AVG for good as a payback for what they did to my beloved Ewido

 

[XLR8R]

I hope Avast shut down AVG for good as a payback for what they did to my beloved Ewido

To be honest, AVG needed Ewido. AVG got much, much better after the Ewido acquisition. Though they discontinued Ewido, Ewido's engine and code became the basis for AVG to change from a mediocre AV to a good one.

 

[BVLon]

To be honest, AVG needed Ewido. AVG got much, much better after the Ewido acquisition. Though they discontinued Ewido, Ewido's engine and code became the basis for AVG to change from a mediocre AV to a good one.

AVG was always mediocre on tests. It wasn't only the Ewido they acquired. It was also the ExploitPreventionLabs, which became the basis of their link scanner and Norton AntiBot by Sana Security, later renamed to AVG Identity Protection. They also acquired their Spam filter from some company whose name I can't remember/ Despite of all the technologies they acquired, their results on tests were never great. Even today, if I download AVG or Avast and I test them against that malware pack in MH, I bet they will do worse even than TrendMicro, that failed miserably. But this is just a guess.

 

[Pat MacKnife]

Don't guess do the test ....

 

[XLR8R]

Don't guess do the test ....

Pretty sure it's one of the better products on 0day (especially with hardened mode).

 

[gery79]

i have a license of AVAST Ultimate and if they allowed it i would gladly change it to avg

 

[Ink]

Avast and AVG were competitors, merging them into a single brand would force users to mistrust AVG and vice versa.

Instead they have merged the backend technologies and consumers can keep their own favourite brand installed.

A great real world example is what happened to Microsoft's Mixer. It was discontinued and they migrated the streaming platform to FB Gaming.

On a side note: Consumers can be very aggressive to change.

 

[tipo]

Since it's basically the same software and engine, any bets why they still keep the AVG software?

And AVG has been delayed product updates? I imagine they put efforces to main product which is Avast.

probably because of the looks.. AVG looks waaaay more nicer.

 

[AG3S]

Avast and AVG were competitors, merging them into a single brand would force users to mistrust AVG and vice versa.

Instead they have merged the backend technologies and consumers can keep their own favourite brand installed.

A great real world example is what happened to Microsoft's Mixer. It was discontinued and they migrated the streaming platform to FB Gaming.

On a side note: Consumers can be very aggressive to change.

I completely agree... It seems to be more of a marketing strategy in addition to the fact that it would let them to cover more pricing range as AVG is a little bit cheaper compared to AVAST.

We have received a very good feedback form their products from our customers despite the privacy issues that they had in the past.

 

[RoboMan]

It's a common sales tactics. When company X gets bought for being either too good or having too many customers, such users are usually loyal to the company. You want to make sure they feel nothing has changed. That's why many times competition is bought, the same name remains, and the only thing that usually changes is now they're part of "X group", but the product name remains. For example, when Facebook bought WhatsApp, theye could have either deleted it from existence so Facebook Messenger could gain power, or they even could have rebranded it to "Facebook Messenger" or "Messenger by Facebook". But that's a terrible idea, because most WhatsApp users would have uninstalled and switched to another application, since WhatsApp wasn't WhatsApp anymore. Customers use to think their favourite product is dead if it's bought and rebranded.

 

[gery79]

AVG update system has become weird I am running AVG paid and I contacted support because thought it was an issue . The GUI update indicator says it was updated 6 or 9 hours ago and the guy said well avg updates every 6 hours. I am confused .....weather he knows nothing about it or this is true..... Can anyone confirm this

 

[Nagisa]

AVG update system has become weird I am running AVG paid and I contacted support because thought it was an issue . The GUI update indicator says it was updated 6 or 9 hours ago and the guy said well avg updates every 6 hours. I am confused .....weather he knows nothing about it or this is true..... Can anyone confirm this

Streaming update delivers new signatures in every a few minutes or so, as far as I know.

Mine is last updated 7 minutes ago.

Even today, if I download AVG or Avast and I test them against that malware pack in MH, I bet they will do worse even than TrendMicro, that failed miserably. But this is just a guess.

No way with signatures. I think CyberCapture has a great potential but I never seen any example where it got tested.

 

[gery79]

Check mine