To Mark Brophy (concerning SysWiz vs. Phoenix/Cybermedia):
Systemsoft has an extensive web site dealing with their SysWiz
product. I've read through it a few times and only see them
talk about Cybermedia one time.
The analysis that SystemSoft gives of Cybermedia's First Aid is
erroneous and misleading.
They call First Aid a "self help" product with manual correction
and no intention of reducing tech support calls. They also claim
that since CM isn't a PC manufacturer, that they don't know what
the REAL problems are that are faced by the PC owners.
SYSF is quick to admit that they are also not a manufacturer, but
that they have great OEM relationships that give them critical
info (they want you to believe that they are the only ones with
access to this info.).
First, who do you think buys First Aid? It' probably not the average
end user, it's more likely a tech support department manager for
all the PCs in his department. Do you think that Cybermedia doesn't
know this? Besides, what's wrong solving the users problems instead
of having your first goal as figuring out ways for manufacturers to
avoid having to talk to customers?
Second, SYSF seems to want you to believe that all your problems
will automatically go away with SysWiz without any user interaction.
I don't see ANY evidence that that is the case. I believe they have
a "fix it" button just like Cybermedia. I wouldn't want SYSF to try to
eliminate any user interaction for the first couple of years, with all
the bugs they'll likely have with their ambitous plans into areas that
they have no background in at all (i.e. application/Windows problems
which Cybermedia claims are 90% of all PC user problems...and they
should know after having their product out for so long in the hands
of customers). I'd expect SYSF to be good at fixing PC Cards, but
not much else.
Third, SYSF wants you to believe that they have exclusive access
to problem knowledge bases. That is highly misleading. Why
wouldn't ANY hardware/software company freely and gratefully
hand over a list of their problems if it means less nightmares to
ANYONE and EVERYONE? If anything, since Cybermedia has been
out in the market for a couple of years, while SYSF doesn't even ship
their product yet, Cybermedia is much more in tune with what the
REAL problems are that PC users face.
Finally, the distribution of First Aid through PTEC eliminated any
advantage of distribution that SYSF may have had. PTEC actually
has broader and more diverse penetration into the OEM channel
(remember SYSF primarily is a supplier to portable PCs which
is only about 20% of the market).
Do you think that the Intel/PTEC technology agreement
had anything to do with Cybermedia granting an exclusivity to
PTEC? I'm sure, based on a comment I read here, that most
investors don't realize how great this alliance is for PTEC (and for
Cybermedia). If they did, PTEC would probably be trading closer
to the $70 (pre-split price) that SYSF is instead of $17. |
