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Thread: Microsoft buys anti-virus software maker

  1. #1
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    Microsoft buys anti-virus software maker

    CNN:

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday said it would buy anti-virus software maker Sybari Software Inc. in a direct challenge to Symantec and McAfee Inc., which currently dominate that market.

    If Microsoft (Research), the world's largest software maker, bundles anti-virus features into its Windows operating system, security software makers could feel the pressure, analysts said.

    "Microsoft's acquisition of Sybari will get them into the (business) anti-virus market specializing in e-mail protection, a negative for Symantec and McAfee," said Sterling Auty, an analyst with J.P. Morgan.

    McAfee (Research) shares were down 5.4 percent. Symantec (Research), which recently bought storage software company Veritas to diversify and reduce its dependence on security, was off 3.9 percent.

    Auty estimates the Sybari deal will put Microsoft in competition for business representing up to 5 percent of Symantec's revenue and 8 percent of McAfee's revenue.

    Closely held Sybari provides anti-virus protection for e-mail systems, primarily Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes. Terms of the proposed acquisition were not disclosed.

    Sybari filed last year to go public. In its latest filing, in January, it said it might sell 3.35 million shares at $14 to $16 each in an initial public offering. It said it had revenue of $34.1 million and a loss of $2.6 million in the first nine months of 2004.

    Shares of Microsoft were up 10 cents at $26.26 near midday on the Nasdaq stock market.

    McAfee was down $1.40 at $24.56 on the New York Stock Exchange, and Symantec was off 93 cents at $22.67 on Nasdaq.
    http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/08/tech...ex.htm?cnn=yes

    Personally, I dont think they should get into the antivirus area, leave that to the companys that are soul based on that. Looks like another money scheme

  2. #2
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hmmmmmmmmm,

    Well they did buy e-Trust a little while back did they not?

    I can also remember back in the DOS/early windows days when Microsoft did their own AV product............come to think of it, so did IBM.

    PCs took off, but the internet was not common (9600 Baud dial-up ) and most were stand alone, or at best shared a printer.

    I still have a Norton 5.25" floppy with their AV that could "detect all 760, or whatever, viruses"........and I can remember getting my monthly 3.5" floppy update from Network Associates (McAfee).............it has become an important market sector, so I suppose we should not be surprised at MS buying back into it?

    Just a bit of nostalgia

  3. #3
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    How can this thread be rated very positive? I dont see any positive.
    That which does not kill me makes me stronger -- Friedrich Nietzche

  4. #4
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    Thread AntiPoints, S3cur|ty4ng31:
    http://www.antionline.com/threadAPs....hreadid=265889

  5. #5
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    Yeah nihil i remeber Ms's virus scan and only fprot too.

    So MS is gonna buy another spyware software company and rumors fly about them selling it again...to sum it all up.

  6. #6
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    That puts is to several firms they bought recently, kind of following cisco's lead in buying up others.
    Trappedagainbyperfectlogic.

  7. #7
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    When MS released their Antispyware beta (aka Giant's Software) we downloaded it to test in our non-production lab. They did not go through the code very thoroughly when 'slapping' the Microsoft logo on it. When it errors out periodically the window header says 'Giant Software', also it appears this way in the event logs.

    So if any of you are running this in production and happen to notice a large quanitity of 'Giant Software' in your event logs, don't panic, it's just MS Antispyware beta doing what betas do best.
    Civilization. The death of dreams.

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