Wed 31 May 2006
Microsoft announced their new “Windows Live OneCare” product today. For $50 a year, you can protect up to 3 computers from viruses, spam, and data loss. While all of these products were available before from other vendors (often for free), this is the first time Microsoft has thrown its weight into this segment of the software market–certainly to the chagrin of their “business partners” Symantec and McAfee.
This new product release makes me wonder why protecting your operating system isn’t part of the operating system itself, but it will certainly be a lucrative business for Microsoft. It will be an all-inclusive package from a well-known name for people who don’t want to bother assembling their anti-spy, anti-spam solution on their own. Link
I agree that if you’re gong to build an operating system that the whole world runs on, why wouldn’t you protect people for free from those that use it to attack itself?
In related news, many believe that Macintosh users have a lot to be concerned about now that their operating system runs on Intel and now that people are runnings the Windows operating system on it. Those who use the Windows operating system on a MAC are just as succeptible to virus’. MAC users are an especially attractive to virus attackers since boasting of their virus free systems all over television as of late.