-=> Quoting Richard St. John to Rick Collins <=-
-=> FidoMail to 1:163/215, please.-=<
RSJ> @MSGID: 1:100/205 32e468c8
-=> My computer told me that Rick Collins said to Richard St. John
rc> And it tells them _only_ the results obtained under the
rc> conditions of the test - extrapolating that to what the
rc> individual _user_ might expect in _his_ environment is the
rc> problem. 
rsj> In the original series of posts, as with all the comparisons
rsj> that Virus Bulletin has done the EXACT testing procedure as
rsj> well as equipment is listed for people to duplicate if needed.
That's nice - but a little off the point.  The point was the results
apply _only_ to the suite of files used in the test - and _cannot_ be
extrapolated to the environment in which the user machine is
operating.
rc> And did the results differ from the "published" results you've
rc> spoken of? I'd suggest they did, and that alone proves my
rc> point. 
rsj> Many did, many did not {some were right on the money, even with
rsj> our more extensive testing}, but our test bed was entirely
rsj> different than the one they published so naturaly our answers
rsj> should be slightly different especially since we shot much more
rsj> at the scanner, so our percentages were definitely different. 
My point _exactly_.  Now, considering the "real world", the
effectiveness of _any_ of the tested scanners depends on the nature
of the virus threat in the environment of the _user_.  If that threat
differs from the "threat scenario" used in the test, then the
_ranking_ is meaninless and the _effectiveness_ of the products is
meaningless.
rc> Yes, but do they infer from that what the best product would be
rc> in _their_ environment? And how, pray tell, do they analyse
rc> _their_ environment to determine how close it is to the
rc> published test conditions? 
rsj> We, like anyone that reads the comparison {BTW their July one is
rsj> done}, made our own determination as to our needs. Their
rsj> testing was just a basic guideline. 
As I said, you can;'r simply extrapolate their results into your
environment.
TTFN. Rick.
Ottawa, ON 22 Jan 17:58 
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.20
---------------