Symantec Triumphs Against the Odds

I must admit that when I decided to do the Worst Vendor of 2006 poll, I didn’t expect that Symantec would be the winner. After all, 2006 was a year when Microsoft – always a favorite anyway just by the large percentage of folks it gets the chance to irritate –particularly raised hackles with its WGA shenanigans and veiled patent threats against Linux. Overcoming such competition, even by the very slim margin by which Symantec became an upset victor, is an impressive feat.

(To hear readers describe why they voted the way they did in the Worst Vendor of 2006 poll, listen to my podcast here.)

As I write this, the online poll itself is a virtual dead heat, with Symantec having gotten just one more vote than Microsoft, each with 22 percent of the 614 votes cast to that point. They were followed by Verizon (11%), Dell (11%), HP (9%), AOL (7%), EBay (6%), Apple (4%), Oracle (2%), and Earthlink (2%).

But it was really in some of the comments I heard from readers that Symantec cemented its victory. Symantec seems to have profoundly disappointed customers who once trusted its products, particularly in terms of support. “We finally had to bite the bullet this year and migrate to Trend Micro,” wrote one reader. “Symantec used to be the best of breed solution, but no more. Their total inability to get their support act together has ruined what was once a great company.”

Of course, Symantec and Microsoft take a lot of heat from my readers about their use of DRM. As one reader wrote, both are “companies that no longer care about their customers. Both Microsoft and Symantec are crap companies that no longer care about their customers. Intrusive DRM in their software (Vista, Office 2007, Norton Systemworks, Norton AntiVirus etc.) that checks whether you are using an illegal copy — and which are often wrong — and disable your software and/or computer when they think you are a pirate. For Symantec there is an additional sin: PartitionMagic and Drive Image — before Version 7 — were nice pieces of software but were literally shoved into the rubbish bin after they were bought by Symantec. They bought out PowerQuest just to destroy these programs. Microsoft and Symantec are the most evil software companies on this planet and they can expect no more money from me. I will also tell everyone I know to avoid buying any of their products.”

Based on the rising level of anger, though, if I were laying odds for who will be the Worst Vendor of 2007, right now I’d make Verizon the betting favorite. “My vote is for Verizon Wireless,” wrote one reader. “I have been having an ongoing fight regarding their billing practices — it is currently under investigation by the New York State Attorney General’s office. I have proof that Verizon was taking up to ten business days to credit payments to accounts, thereby charging $5.00 late fees. These fees went on for every month, until they turned off my service and I paid $150.00. Mind you, the post office box where the payment was going is the next town over, about five miles away. Their customer service is useless and just lies — they need to be investigated and fined heavily for their business practices.”

Many readers wished I’d included some other companies in the on-line poll. In particular, there were quite a few who would have liked to cast their vote for Sony, even though the rootkit debacle was in 2005, so Sony didn’t meet my criteria of having made multiple Gripe Line appearances in 2006. But that certainly didn’t preclude them from casting their vote Sony as a “write-in” via their comments. “Sony should have been on the list,” wrote one reader. “After my bad experiences with SONY products and services, I swore off buying anything from Sony for the past 12 years. I thought maybe it was just me until the battery fiasco proved I was right about their products/services. This past year, I had to buy a Sony Erickson cell phone because of my service provider. It too is a lousy product, and my tech savvy son agreed as he tried to use its features.”

Other readers made strong Worst Vendor cases for companies that weren’t on the ballot such as X2Gen, Sprint, Lenovo, Intuit (yes, amazingly enough, Intuit didn’t even make two Gripe Line appearances in 2006), Comcast, and Business Objects. “I work for an ISV and we embed Crystal Reports in our product,” wrote one reader. “The recent migration to version 2 of the .NET framework has been a huge headache. We opened several support tickets (and paid for these), but all we got were tech support folks in India and references to available online articles. The problems we had were never resolved. So we’re now looking for another way to handle reporting support in our product. Adios, Business Objects.”

While choosing the Worst Vendor is a natural for the Gripe Line, several readers suggested that the opposite might be worthwhile as well. “I can appreciate the fact that there is value in learning which companies are behaving badly,” one reader wrote. “But that is what your website does year round. Next year consider a poll on the best vendor of the year – the feedback might actually be more useful to us.”

Well, OK, but there’s no reason to wait until next year. Let’s put it this way: did one vendor stand out for you this last year in going above and beyond the call of duty? And let’s not give any vendor an advantage by starting with a list – this vote will strictly be of the write-in variety. So if you have a truly worthy candidate for Best Vendor of 2006, post your nomination below, e-mail me at Foster@gripe2ed.com, or call my voice mail at 1 888 875-7916.

Read and post comments about this story here.