Microsoft: Ultimate Winner in the Virus Wars?


You've got to hand it to Microsoft. They build an OS so full of security holes that it opens up an entirely new market and revenue stream for them: anti-virus software.

Microsoft announced last week that it would begin selling an anti-virus program, in part to assuage customers' complaints concerning security of the OS. A number of Redmond's competitors in the third-party anti-virus market welcomed the announcement with not a little caution, an AP article at the Miami Herald reports.

Unlike its IE browser, Microsoft will reportedly sell the anti-virus package at retail, and not bundle it, which could destroy the third-party market. The software is expected by the end of the year.

However, consumers will get a free anti-spyware tool from MS, although enterprise will have to pay for a full-featured version.

MS has promised to share information with other anti-virus developers, and analysts interviewed for the article believe that both sides have an incentive to "play nice" on this issue.

This means MS will continue to share information with other companies. Equally, MS cannot afford to have third-party products work poorly with Windows and affect customers' security.

However, the free anti-spyware decision may force some smaller players out the market.

The quotation of the day goes to Symantec CEO John Thompson:

"I'd rather fight Microsoft in the marketplace because we're convinced we can whip them."

Analysis: Maybe, John, maybe. We recall Netscape saying something like that as well. As ever, v. 1.0 will be lousy and v. 5.1.1 might be adequate. MS could make serious money out of this and, were it to be successful, the company could seriously undercut its competition through bundling and other deals. Just so long as they don't bundle a version with Office: Mac. Would you buy security software from this company?