Windows is Microsoft's trojan horse

Inq: You recently started a campaign trying to lure Linux users, and giving a discount to RAV antivirus users on the Linux platform, with the message on your web page reading "we won't let you down". Did you get that feedback from Linux users after Microsoft's RAV acquisition? Are you committed to the Linux platform for the long run?

Talpes: RAV and BitDefender were in a very close competition (something like Symantec and McAfee on the US market, at a smaller level - [smile]) that RAV was the first to achieve the development of a cross-platform technology, allowing them to develop products very fast (a few months) for any existing platform.

RAV was lately very "Linux-oriented", arriving to be pretty famous for its Linux Mail Protection solutions in the Linux community. Microsoft blasted two rabbits with the same bullet: they bought a very good technology, working as well on Windows systems, but also a very important player for the Linux environment.

On the long term, we want to continue concentrating on the Linux Mail Servers market niche. Radu Georgescu, GeCAD's CEO, publicly recommended all those in need for a good antivirus solution to come for BitDefender (www.efinance.ro, the article "Glory without viruses" - sorry because it's in Romanian. Moreover, as we have managed to develop that cross-platform technology ourselves, we will now be able to build solid solutions for almost all existing computing platforms. We are commited for the long run.

Inq: how many users of BitDefender anti-virus do you have, and what platforms do you currently support?

Talpes: As BitDefender solutions are produced in 6 languages (English, Spanish, German, French, Swedish + Romanian), they had a very good impact on European computer users. We have now around 2 millions users for our own solutions and we have much more (estimated to ~28 millions) users protected by our technologies included in other solutions.

Other software producers incorporate our technologies (e.g. users of the popular KaZaA network get our antivirus technology incorporated with the product). On the platforms: Windows (all of them, including mobile devices), UNIX(s) (including most Linux distros), FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, PalmOS....

Inq: Is Linux gaining ground among your customer base?

Talpes: In the last half-year, we had many inquiries regarding our Linux line of products. We feel that it is becoming a very good alternative, for not only small companies, looking for non-expensive solutions, but also for all profit-oriented corporations, taking into account the TCO of the solution they are using.

The Microsoft move, which could switch over on mid-term Windows from an unsafe OS to a safer OS than Linux, has to be balanced by the Linux world security producers. SOFTWIN is one of them.

Inq: At one point the anti-virus industry thought "the sky was falling" when Microsoft decided to bundle an anti-virus with MS-DOS 6.0. It never succeeded and people continued to buy other antivirus solutions. IBM had a great anti-virus lab, a product that scored well on benchmarks (IBM Antivirus) yet they too ended up abandoning them. What is the problem with big software companies?

Talpes: Timing is a very critical matter when talking about security, especially antivirus. The other antivirus producers had been suggesting that too, reaction time is one point where Microsoft's security division will need some time to get in line with the other players on the market.

BitDefender, on the other hand, is among the top five antivirus producers considering reaction speed and since two years ago - the first to release free disinfection tools for already infected users. If we refer to Microsoft, I do not mean to be rude, but judging from their reaction speed in covering Windows security breaches, they need a better concentration on this subject... [smile] This is one point where "little ones" run faster than "the big boys" are.

Also, our technology is now platform independent, starting with the latest BitDefender version. That means we cand develop a new niche product in weeks, against our competitors which could do same in months. This give us a great power of adaptability and speed for launching new products, a strong differentiator.

Inq: Ok, I'm curious now: When did you start your company, and why?

Talpes: Softwin started back in 1990, as one of the first Romanian private software companies, providing offshore software developments for a French partner. Since then, we have grown fast, becoming now the largest software and services company in Romania - with over 500 employees at this moment. Me and my wife have started the business, with no written down business plan, our business plan was our strong faithfull in our success. The typical US garage was in '90 a room in a flat. Moreover, even if it was very difficult to start an IT business in that time in Romania, we have realized that the native talent and qualities of highly educated Romanian people in technical fields (mathematics and physics) will help us develop a strong competence in that (at that time) emergent industry.

Inq: At exactly what point did you realize that someone from Romania could give some competition to the big "established firms" in the anti-virus field, on the global marketplace?

Talpes: it started as an internal necessity. It is notorious that our Bulgarian neighbors were issuing computer viruses very often. All these viruses found their way to the Western countries through our systems, poorly protected by the solutions of that time. Existing antivirus solutions all of them produced and based in US or Western Europe, very rarely updated were not good enough for our needs, because we were the first victim, in viruses' way to the West. In 1996, a group of developers from SOFTWIN came with an idea to make our own antivirus software, which we have initially called AVX (AntiVirus eXpert), distributed locally. Since 2000, we began to market it internationally. That was the moment when we saw that our technology could compete with Symantec, McAfee, and others.

Inq: Can you describe the IT marketplace in Romania? how widespread and accessible for the average people are PCs? and what's the current state of internet usage and broadband?

Talpes: The main components of the Romanian IT market are computer hardware - 34%, software products -10%, and IT enabled services - 21%, being rather hardware centric, with software & services share of app. 30%. Annual growth rate for software & services is 17%, mainly services exports - 97%. EU countries and lately Asian and Extreme Orient countries are favorite targets.

As for Internet accessibility, PC penetration rate is 3.2% at the end of 2000 (MCTI source, ESIS II Report), with an annual growth rate of 51%. Industry figures say that the number of internet users has dramatically increased from 350.000 in 1998 to 1.450.000 in 2002, with an average annual growth rate of 40%. .ro domains number is also growing, to an extent of 45.000 in December 2002, of which only 15.000 are active, though.

Inq: Any thoughts on Romania joining the EU ?

Talpes: That is a political question [smile]. I believe we will improve our economical relations with Western partners after joining the E.U. Also Romania's image in the world will certainly improve after that event and we will surely benefit from this.

Inq: Okay, back to IT: Are you going to extend the current offer for RAV Antivirus customers? what are the special prices?

We intend to cover the empty place left by RAV into that market, so we will continue to offer RAV clients and partners special conditions, even better that those they had from RAV. We decided to offer a 60% cut-off from our Linux-based antivirus solutions for all RAV Antivirus customers, including full technical support and updates for one year. Our tech specialists are committed to assist RAV customers in migrating to the BitDefender Linux suite.

Inq: RAV supported some niche platforms as Novell's Groupwise and IBM mainframes running Linux. Do you target those too?

We are targeting for some time the Novell, Lotus and IBM mainframes platfors. On some platforms we have already issued products, on others we are in the final test stages.

Inq: Any other final thoughts on Microsoft's move in the antivirus market?

Talpes: For the moment we think Microsoft just wants to improve the security features of Windows. Windows was ranked against Linux, by some IT communities as being a less safe OS. This "unsafety" was considered a critical weakness for Windows.

We do not forget Windows is the "trojan horse" of Microsoft for any other Microsoft technology. Keeping Windows in an excellent shape (practically a monopoly on the OS market) is a life/death issue for Microsoft. Microsoft plan to switch this major weakness into a major strength against the Linux competitor. That is why in our opinion this acquisition is a move against Linux than anything else. Obviously this move will push the security software producers to enhance their products and add new features, for providing added-value security products on Windows platforms. BitDefender will run into this direction. Same time we shall see in the next years strong security products on Linux platforms and maybe similar moves concerning the Linux, to include some basic security technology.

IBM, HP, major Linux "fans" could be the drivers for this move in the Linux world. That means, aside the eventually next acquisitions in the Linux world, we shall see a similar move (adding powerful security features to the products) also in the Linux world. BitDefender will run also into this direction.

Inq: Does Romania have any antitrust laws like the U.S. and were any complaints locally about the GeCAD deal or was this seen by the average press as "a good thing"?

Talpes: Microsoft proved it has very strong lawyers and lobbyists. In Romania there are antitrust laws. As we know there were no complaints about the GeCAD deal. The mass-media saw, generally, the deal as being a "good thing" for Romania. In fact there were two opinions. The dominant one: the deal had as effect to increase the awarness about the Romanian IT skills in the Western world. An other opinion was: RAV was (together with BitDefender) the Romanian software products success story; the deal will kill the brand. Romania will have one software brand less. This is the negative side.

Inq: I look forward to trying your antivirus and other products and writing about them. Thank you, Mr. Talpes.