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Microsoft To Offer Virus Defense

Posted by Zonk on from the no-more-foot-shooting dept.

FridayBob writes "According to the New York Times, Microsoft plans to enter the consumer antivirus business with a subscription service next year. Most of us will remember Microsoft's assimilation of RAV Antivirus from GeCAD Software of Romania in 2003." From the article: "Microsoft plans to expand the service beyond its 60,000 employees this summer and offer an open trial for consumers this fall. No date has been set for a commercial introduction, but the executive in charge of the new business said it would ultimately be offered as an annual service by subscription."

4 of 579 comments (clear)

  1. It should be part of the OS! by k96822 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, no, no! It should be part of the OS. If I buy an OS and it is vulnerable to viruses, it is a flaw in the OS's design. Why do I have to pay extra to make my machine usable?

    1. Re:It should be part of the OS! by dfn5 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Why do I have to pay extra to make my machine usable?

      Microsoft refers to this as "a business plan for generating recurring revenue".

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  2. This ought to be illegal. by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It seems to me that a company profiting from its own security holes is a serious conflict of interest.

    From TFA:


    Microsoft's decision to charge a fee is justifiable, he (Ryan Hamlin, general manager of the Microsoft Technology Care and Safety Group) said, because most consumers do not want to be responsible for the care of their PC's, but just want them to work correctly.



    Let's break this down into steps, shall we?



    1.) Market virus-prone OS
    2.) Market protection from aformentioned viral threat.
    3.) Profit^2!



    I'm wondering when M$ is going to cut out the unnecessary fluff in their operation and just get a license to print money.

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  3. Re:No, not part of the OS, just fix the OS. by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Viruses exploit a flaw in the security model of the OS."

    No, they don't. Worms and trojans frequently exploit holes in the OS, but traditional viruses work by modifying executables. Unless we disable the ability to write to the disk (or disable the ability to execute code), viruses aren't going away.