Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Magic of Branding


As a consumer, business or otherwise, if you didn't already know (or at least suspect) what it was, what would you think Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 was? It is described as: "It includes Symantec Endpoint Protection, Symantec AntiVirus for Linux and Macintosh, and mail protection which shields against malicious email."

So, it's an Anti-virus program? With anti-malware and perhaps spam-blocking, phishing prevention, or other features? Why is that, exactly, "endpoint" protection?

I'm sure the product itself is fine. I haven't used it, but I've used Symantect Norton Anti-Virus before and it's a bit of a resource hog, for me.

But what, specifically, is an endpoint, and why do I need mine protected? Apparently, it's important enough to protect my endpoint that they've come up with 11different iterations of it!

Reminds me a little bit of the classic "What if Microsoft made the iPod?" video. In a desire to make product branding distinct, unique, and to "stand out" companies tend to obscure what the product is and what the product does. What about "Complete Protection"? "Whole Computer Protection" . . . I dunno, I think there has to be a better way to get the message across than "endpoint" protection.

But maybe that's just me.

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