Kerio Personal Firewall ending?

[PrntRhd]

Ran across this, seems they want to kill off KPF Dec 31, 2005 for end of life, will support subscriptions until Dec 2006:
http://forums.kerio.com/index.php?t=msg&th=7040&start=0&S=9de97243d04e13fe90cc6fa8dc15787d :(

[123456]

SAHucks. Looks like I'll never be able to set that firewall up again.

[pop pop]

First Sygate, now KPF. Another freebie bites the dust. No doubt this is a trend. With the current risk-level involved with online computing, there's just too much money to be made, or in the case of free solutions, not being made. My guess is we'll see ZA go next and then the free AV solutions will follow.

[jlreich]

:eek: That does suck. Not much left to choose from is there. Seems like the best firewalls are the free ones at that. Not only that, but if all the free FW's and AV's disappear many will be left unprotected. Not everyone can afford to pay $60-$70 for a internet security suit. Which means the net will become even more infested and dangerous with infections left unchecked . :(

It's hard enough sometimes to get people to use an AV/FW. Now they have to pay what after just purchasing a new computer? Ahh! :eek:

I hope someone steps up and continues to offer free solutions. If not the natively more secure Linux may become even more popular.

[Rick]

Good reason to grab the old versions of the best Firewalls now.

My update/upgrade folder for ZA has 12 versions in it :)
ver. 3.7 to 6.0

[deddard]

This is all a bit worrying - free stuff may not immediately draw in the money, but it does encourage people to consider security, which means they often purchase more advanced stuff.
The problem with some of the paid for stuff is that it can fall over in ways that free stuff can't. An elderly guy I recently built a PC for had Norton Systemworks & Firewall installed, but it would not let him renew the licence - he got confused fairly easily and I spent a long time with him trying to sort things out (this was on his old PC)
When I built the PC for him I put a free ZA on there, and told him he can upgrade or get something else if he needs it - I'll be back to check on himj in a week or so(I also installed a router for him for extra protection) and made sure he has got a 3 year licence for NOD32.

Removing the free stuff is going to seriously confuse people - how will they know where to go? many non-techies get the advice 'stick ZA or Kerio on' and go with it because it costs nothing - they don't have to waste money getting somehting they can't understand.
Take away the free stuff and they are forced to make a choice and pay, and will often put it off because of the cost (and we all know where that leads)

What really bugs me is that this will lead people to rely on the built in M$ firewall (stop laughing :eek: ) and anti-spyware, and when it is introduced the AV.
We all know that this is going to be a nightmare when it occurs - loads of work for techies, but we will all end up beating our heads against the wall.

[FastLearner]

Yes, this is a depressing trend.

I think we have all become so spoiled for so long that it is going to make it that much more difficult to live without these 'freebies'.

Incidentally most of this free software accepts donations, so if you are using such a software, now may be the time to throw them 10 dollars or so, just so we don't lose all of the good (and free) security software...:)