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Thread: MS to Offer Antivirus Software

  1. #1
    AO Decepticon CXGJarrod's Avatar
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    MS to Offer Antivirus Software

    From http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,59196,00.html

    SEATTLE -- Microsoft said Tuesday it will acquire antivirus technology from a Romanian software company and develop its own antivirus product, stepping into a market it has long ceded to others specializing in software security.

    Microsoft signed an agreement to buy the intellectual property and technology assets of antivirus software and consulting firm GeCAD Software of Bucharest for an undisclosed amount. Some of the company's software developers will join Microsoft, but details haven't been finalized, said Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Microsoft's security business unit.

    Microsoft plans to release its own antivirus product at some unspecified date, but has not decided whether basic antivirus technology will be bundled into its Windows operating system, Nash said.
    Would you guys buy it? Do you think this might be another "Vaporware" product?

    Jarrod
    N00b> STFU i r teh 1337 (english: You must be mistaken, good sir or madam. I believe myself to be quite a good player. On an unrelated matter, I also apparently enjoy math.)

  2. #2
    Leftie Linux Lover the_JinX's Avatar
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    I would say it would be just as good as the WinXP firewall but that's a cheap excuse..

    I won't judge before I try and hey atleast they are not trying to reinvent the wheel, they just buy some Romanian company and name it Microsoft AV..

    What's in a name..

    but it's not for me..

    @ work we have a good AV deal with a major company and @ home my GF has FREEAVG on her win partition..
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  3. #3
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    Another attempt to make Billy's pockets a little more fatter. I wouldn't buy/use it if it didn't come with Windows (different story if it did) and I highly doubt that it would be any competetion to the better known AV companies (Norton, etc.) if it is sold separately.

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  4. #4
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    You have to look at it from the M$ point of view:
    "Hmmm... we are already in the operating systems, programming languages and environments, word processing, spreadsheets, database management, and browser markets. What other areas can we move into and use our massive corporate power to dominate illegitimately?"

  5. #5
    AO Veteran NeuTron's Avatar
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    IMHO, there is no way that Microsoft will make a better prodict than Norton, McAffee or Dr. Soloman and it is purely about greed. Bill ****in Gates wants Microsoft to be a synonym for "computer". I wish they would just settle for 90% of the market and leave the other ten for us. God I hate Microsoft.

  6. #6
    They already have an AV software, its called windows update. Talk about total crap--they sell a defective, completely exploitable product, then they sell you the stuff to protect and fix it. It's like your automotive dealer charging you to pay for fixes to a car they put on recall. Why don't they just concentrate on writing better code.

  7. #7
    AO Security for Non-Geeks tonybradley's Avatar
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    It seems an odd move given that they just entered into an agreement with McAfee and Trend Micro to form the Virus Information Alliance.

    I wonder if they're goal is truly to release a competing product, or if they just wanted to buy the intellectual property to try and get some AV intelligence on their engineering teams so that they can build products less prone to virus exploitation in the first place?

    In the end, I would agree that if they go forward and release their own product that it won't compare with some of the existing products that make up the bedrock of AV software- McAfee, Norton, Trend, etc. It would be one thing if they bought McAfee, but they didn't even buy a top 5 product so I don't think they are going to roll out a top 5 product.

    That said, the home market are push-button drones. They don't know about security and most don't want to know about security. They want to use their computer like they use their VCR and their microwave. They don't want to check for patches and AV updates every week and most wouldn't know how. SO , if Microsoft can bundle even rudimentary AV into Windows for the home market and set everything to auto-update- patches and AV definitions- the world would be better for it even if the AV is second rate.

    If everyone surfed AO and other security boards, and everyone patched their OS and applications weekly, and everyone kept their AV up to date, and everyone configured their firewall properly maybe this wouldn't be the case, but since so many don't and they make up the majority of the people who open attachments called nudepictures.exe from emails berating the war on Iraq in broken English claiming to be from support@microsoft.com it is safe to say that even spoon-fed mediocre security is better than no security at all.

  8. #8
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    I have to agree with Tonybradley here. Most people who bye a car in this country(UK) don't no how to top up the oil level or check for tyre ware. Never mind their big ends on there way out.

    The same goes for Pc users and a Pc is a fraction of the cost of a new car.
    Most people just want to by a Pc and use it But in the same way not noing you have low oil in your car can end up costing you a fortune to replace an engine. Not noing you are infected with a virus, trojan etc can end up costing you a fortune aswell.

    The government in the UK are thinking of making people learn the basics of car maintenance to pass there driving test. Perhaps the same should be true of the Pc.

    The car manufacturers argument against this is they have made more sophsticated systems that let a car driver no when the enginge is low on oil etc so the user doesn't have to check.

    So it makes sence to me to bundle AV and firewall software into an operating system.

  9. #9
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    that too will be integrated into windows.............as usual
    guru@linux:~> who I grep -i blonde I talk; cd ~; wine; talk; touch; unzip; touch; strip; gasp; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; gasp; umount; make clean; sleep;

  10. #10
    Senior Member cwk9's Avatar
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    Guess will have to wait and see. Who knows maybe a built in AV would do to norton what internet explorer did to netscape.

    Windows use to come with a virus scanner way back in windows 3.1.
    Its not software piracy. I’m just making multiple off site backups.

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