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Microsoft Anti-Spyware to Be Free of Charge
fubar1971 writes "During his keynote speech at the at the RSA Security Conference Bill Gates announced that the MS antispyware will be offered for free. From his speech: 'We've looked hard at the nature of this problem, and made a decision that this anti-spyware capability will become something that's available at no additional charge for Windows users -- both the blocking capability, and the scanning and removal capabilities.' Additional information at Government Computer News." Update: 02/16 16:57 GMT by Z : Microsoft was previously considering charging extra for this service.
From the first Slashdot article blurb (emphasis mine):
rscrawford writes "CNN reports that Microsoft may charge extra for security software. So first they edge their competition out of the browser market, then they tie IE into the OS so tightly that a crash in IE can crash the computer, and then they make IE so vulnerable that just using it is hazardous to the typical computer's health, and now they want to CHARGE users to fix it?"
From today's Slashdot article blurb:
Quite a turnaround from charging extra to free.
Looks like they never said for sure that they were going to charge extra. As you can see above it said "may". Now, are we all going to whine that MSFT shouldn't be distributing software with their OS to combat spyware because it "may" edge out competition in the spyware removal market or are we just going to complain that they considered charging people to use it when they aren't now?
Because MSFT software (browser, OS, and extras like ActiveX) should have been programmed correctly in the first place I would expect MSFT to distribute this software for free. People should be able to clear their computers out of what shouldn't have been there from the get go.
Personally, I don't care. I will likely continue to use what I have been using all along (although I have been trying to use the Mac for most surfing) as recent testing has shown MSFT's solution to not be quite as good as third party offerings.
common sense. it doesn't matter how many tools joe user has on his pc, if he/she doesn't exercise sound judgement in surfing, no amount of anti-spyware tools will help.
Is it 5:30 yet?
I think Lavasoft may be in a hard position now. Ad-Aware is also free, but they depend on the paid version to keep them afloat. Now that MS is offering theirs for free, I wonder what Lavasoft will do to stay competitive.
I hope MS doesn't turn around and start charging once the competition is eliminated.
why does the world need IE 7 on the mac? Safari is fine, and firefox is better. The mac can do without IE.
Microsoft is doing the Right Thing (tm) here, and all you have for them is more snide remarks?
How effective this tool is remains to be seen, of course. But what's notable, IMHO, is that Microsoft is making a responsible gesture to their customers.
It's OK to show a little appreciation sometimes, even for Microsoft.
Socialism: A feeling of discontent and resentment caused by a desire for the possessions or qualities of another.
It's fairly normal for a test-phase application to do more logging than is even faintly reasonable for a release-phase application. Mine do.
;-) "Fast user switching" should be, well, fast. Like pressing ctrl-alt-f8 fast. Ho hum.
;-)
For the next two points, I have never thought the MS multi-user model was worth its weight in rat shit. YMMV
Last point? Well, I have always wondered if MS developers put their beta-ware out for testing, then sit back and go "hey, no bugs yet" for three months, then release it, all the while never even noticing that they forgot to build the feedback mechanism
Justin.
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
Let's be honest - this is a Good Thing. Hopefully they'll start pushing it as hard & in as widespread a manner as they do MSN Search, etc..
/., but kudos to Microsoft for not trying to turn consumers upsidedown and shake the change out of their pockets (more so than they currently do, that is).
Actually, how cool would it be if this was rolled out as an automatic update?
I'm all for any solution that might stem the tide of adware/spyware-filled systems, and the bot-driven-spam & "my computer's broke" complaints that they bring.
This probably isn't said very often on
Just once I'd like someone to call me 'Sir' without adding 'You're making a scene.'
I have been spyware free for the past 6 months since i switched to firefox, which will always be free.
It may be a good product, but it is no longer necessary for me!
MS has a newsgroup for this purpose. Yeah its lame, but its findable and web accessible.
Fun bug: Put your task bar on the side of the screen (I keep mine there hidden but wide, when it pops out, lots of tasks are very readable). Now write a batch script and try to run it. A popup is triggered asking if you really want to do that, problem is it "scrolls" into the screen, but since there's no task bar in the way it keeps scrolling right off the screen! So you can't run your script and you can't clear the popup, which remains in highest in your - list till you reboot :)
Mmmm, Microsoft goodness
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
So, in order to make IE competitive with FireFox, the management of Microsoft was forced by the economics of the market to give anti-spyware software away -- for free. Basically, FireFox and its startling growth in marketshare forced Microsoft to be generous.
Bill Gates once said that your computer screen is the most valuable piece of realestate in the world. The management at Microsoft intends to continue to be the owner of that realestate.
Oh. Yes. "Thank you, Mozilla and Firefox! A job, well done!"
Well, yes, I was going for the cheap laugh (Hey! It's what I do, but...)
... then they've a certain moral imperative to clean up after themselves. For free.
Security holes get left in software by accident, and by sloppiness on behalf of programmers. If that happens, bad things can happen (malware gets in).
Surgical instruments get left in bodies by accident, and by sloppiness on behalf of doctors and theatre staff. If that happens, bad things happen (bacteria gets in, the contents of your bowel seep into your stomach).
Now MSFT's programmers aren't to blame for the existence of scumbags like Malware writers, anymore than doctors are to blame for the existence of bacteria, or easily lacerated bowels. But if it's through their own laxness and/or incompetence that these bad things can get in
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
BEFORE
/. Microsoft!
they were evil because they wanted to charge for something everybody using their crappy OS needs.
AFTER
they will be evil because they will bundle useful software with their OS killing competing third parties.
Have another good day on
Judging from Microsoft's behavior, they believe that spyware is bad - so bad, that they are willing to devote large sums of money to produce a product that they will charge $0 for. Why? I would guess it's because spyware can denigrate overall system performance, making it seem that Windows is slow or insecure.
On the other hand, Microsoft refuses to provide security patches for free. If you haven't paid for a license, they will not provide you with security patches. If spam zombies and worms find their way onto your unsecured system, Microsoft doesn't care. I presume that this is because the spam does not appear to be a problem with Windows.
But it is. I conclude that Microsoft is not concerned with security, but with the APPEARANCE of security.
I R'd TFAs, and I don't see any mention of the enterprise. Got a link to back up your claim?
Considering the wealth of free for home/expensive for enterprise software out there, I wouldn't be surprised, but the articles never mentioned the difference.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
It's too hard to make our products truly secure and it's too easy not to. And we have shitloads of money so we'll buy some anti-malware technology we don't care about, from some company we don't care about ... better yet, we'll buy the company ... and incorporate their dogshit into our dogshit. We'll make it free because nobody would pay for it, and cutoff Semantec's and McAffee's air supply. Not because we need to from any strategic standpoint - just because we can. Just because you can do something, is exactly why you should.
Now all we need is for somebody to explain to us why we should devote resources toward getting out virus definitions in less than our own sweet time.
Research shows that 67% of those who use the term "research shows", are just making shit up.
That's the same bullshit I hear from them with every single problem.
"Wait until the next version."
"You should upgrade to the newest version."
Why is it so fucking hard for them to just issue a patch for their existing versions?
I tell my kids, "its what you do AFTER you've made the mistake that tells people who you are." As my children get older, it is dawning on them what I mean.
So I submit this tensor:
Difference ( Good Guy, Bad Guy ) == The Good Guy can do what the Bad Guy does, but doesn't.
Yeah, and it is a systemic problem. When Windows 2000 came out I worked at a very large network equipment manufacturer, and most of our engineers had dual headed windows machines. Well most engineers also run an X package to talk to their Unix workstation and/or the Unix servers. So we upgrade a couple dozen test users to 2000, and 3 of them are having really weird graphics problems with the X package. I get on the phone with tech support, and after going through first and second level support I get placed in contact with the developer. We eventually figure out is that windows sends incorrect screen geometry if the taskbar is anywhere but at the bottom of the left display with autohide disabled, if it's anywhere else, including on the right monitor, or at the top ala mac's then windows sends essentially garbage screen geometry data. He came out with a patch within a couple weeks and we tested it and everything was ok from then on, but man was he pissed at the MS code monkeys and test department that let that through =)
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.