If they are producing an OS that is inherently safe...
Isn't that an oxymoron?

The security vendors' problem, at this point, is the same as Microsoft's: they don't know yet how vulnerable Vista is, and in what ways.

I'm sure there'll still be a market for 3rd-party security products for Vista. What is going to hurt the security vendors is not so much how secure Vista may be, but all the hype about how secure it may be. The hype will put a dent in consumer sales of AV and similar products.

On the brighter side, this could all lead to another anti-trust lawsuit against MS. Maybe next time, they'll break up MS's monopoly.