I notice that AVG can update the virus database in about the same time that it takes Symantec Norton Internet Security simply to check for updates (but not download them).
When Symantec NIS [2007/2008, in case you've not been following along...] checks for updates, it downloads dozens and dozens of little files (46 individual files at last count). Each file is small, but each download takes some back-and-forth latency. It all adds up so that it can take roughly a minute to simply check for updates. Which is inexcusable.
AVG checks for updates using a much more intelligent algorithm. It takes almost no time at all. And even when there are updates, they tend to be fairly small (most have been well under 1 MB). I've seen AVG update the database in less than a minute, which is comparable to the time it takes Symantec just to CHECK for updates.
One of the problems in many software companies is that the programmers demand and receive very high-end computers and ultra-fast connections to the Internet. It would be better, as a corporate QA decision, to mandate that all programmers must use a trailing edge computer and a dial-up access to the Internet to try out their software at least a few times per week. It would help to reveal to them how out-of-touch they are with the real world.
My PCs are not all trailing edge (one is), but I can see how crappy their algorithms are even with decent PC hardware.
Basically what I'm pointing out is that it would help if management applied some intelligence to the overall process of creating software instead of letting things run on autopilot. When we pay for software, we're paying for some intelligently-designed product. Use your head.
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