MS Confirms Death of RAV for Linux

It was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but Microsoft has confirmed that it will not continue to develop any future versions of RAV, the antivirus software it recently acquired the intellectual rights to from Romanian company GeCAD, for the Linux or Novell platforms.

Existing contracts will be honored and GeCAD will continue to issue virus definition updates for existing customers until their support contracts run out. However, Microsoft plans only to use the intellectual property to help them develop AV solutions for Windows.

MS claims that RAV was technically sound and the price was right so they chose to go that route. Conspiracy theorists think MS targeted GeCAD / RAV specifically because it was the leading AV software on the Linux platform. By killing the main AV alternative on Linux they may also influence some corporate purchasing away from the Linux platform.

No matter which story is correct, there is a vacuum to be filled in the Linux / Novell market for AV software and I am sure there are plenty of developers jumping at the opportunity.

Here is the article: Microsoft halts GeCAD Linux/Novell AV

For more information and discussion about the initial purchase of GeCAD's intellectual property rights by Microsoft, see this thread: MS to Offer Antivirus Software

Given Microsofts history of buy/acquire/squash all competition, this doesn't really come as a surprise. Hey....if you can afford the legal fees for Federal anti-trust cases why not? O.J. proved that given enough money you can get away with anything in America.