GIANT didn't call it BETA; why does MS?

[John Blaustein]

If I understand correctly, GIANT Company -- www.giantcompany.com --
developed and marketed AntiSpyware as a complete, finished, fully
functional, working software package. They sold it and supported it. Now,
Microsoft has purchased GIANT and released the same AntiSpyware software
program, calling it BETA with no support.

In these newsgroups, the MVPs are saying that since AntiSpyware is a BETA
version, users should expect problems, or at least not be surprised by them.
One MVP said in a post I just read that users should not install this
software on a production machine -- in other words, don't put it on a
machine with any critical data. Furthermore, he said that when using BETA
software, one should do so with the understanding that it may work so poorly
that a reinstall of Windows might be necessary, or necessitate using a
Restore Point at very least. And, if you are annoyed by the situation,
don't look to Microsoft. Instead, scold yourself for having installed BETA
software in the first place. It should be noted that MS has AntiSpyware
prominently displayed on it's home page, not buried on some BETA download
site.

If the GIANT software was worthy of retail distribution, why wouldn't MS
simply repackage that and sell it. MS thought it was good enough to prompt
them to buy the whole company, so it must have been pretty good software in
the first place. Other users seem to have been happy with the GIANT
version. (I've been using GIANT's Spam Inspector for over a year with very
good results.)

What gives here? Why is it BETA to Microsoft when it wasn't to GIANT? Has
AntiSpyware changed that much from the GIANT version to the MS version? And
if it did change, why? It sounds like it wasn't broken when GIANT was
selling it, so why fix it?

John

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

John;
Regardless of what the previous owners did, Microsoft is the new owner and
has deemed it a Beta.
There seem to have been some changes and there will most likely be more.
The fact is the owners consider it a Beta.
Users should also treat it as a Beta and install accordingly.
At your own risk with no one else to blame as so many seem to do with this
Beta.

 

[andy]

Just accept they may be making changes to it, hence the beta tag.

It isn't on a beta site, but it does say beta just about everywhere, and as
such it's your choice if you install it.

I don't work for them, just amazed at all the anti-microsoft comments.

Do you just install new software, labelled as beta, without taking
precautions? If so, go back to school.

Andy

 

[John Blaustein]

Jupiter, Andy, Terry, SofaKing and others,

Thank you for the comments and explanations.

I installed and ran AS with no problems, other than that it wouldn't send a
report of a suspected item it didn't find. Also, I had to run it three
times to find and fix everything. I made my post here after reading about
all the problems people have been having. GIANT's other program, Spam
Inspector, has worked very well for me, so I was surprised to hear that what
had been a release version for them was now a BETA. I'm quite
pro-Microsoft, having used Windows PCs since the '80s.

John

 

[bigswifty]

I think that M$ is chopping up and recoding the
application.

case in point, Giant's application worked on the win98
platform, this version apparently has no native win98
support, that fundimental of a change alone warrents the
beta tag.

And realy, isn't most of M$'s software "beta" anyhow?

-----Original Message-----
If I understand correctly, GIANT Company --

www.giantcompany.com --