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Microsoft Cuts Anti-Virus Support For Unix / Linux

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the how-totally-amazing dept.

jasonmicron writes "As previously reported on Slashdot, Microsoft has completed the aquisition of Sybari Software this morning. Before the ink was even dry, Microsoft cut all new antivirus support for all Unix and Linux definitions. Current customers will continue to receive support but new customers will not have the option to purchase the software under Unix / Linux. From TFA: Post acquisition, Syabri becomes a Microsoft subsidiary focusing on marketing anti-virus and anti-spam protection for Microsoft messaging and collaboration servers. It will continue to market Sybari's Lotus Domino products but will not sell Antigen versions for Unix and Linux."

30 of 521 comments (clear)

  1. And you're surprised by this... by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And you're surprised by this why?

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
    1. Re:And you're surprised by this... by terrymr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Monopoly or not in the antivirus market, buying up makers of other software to stop them from making products for competing operating systems is still questionable behavior.

    2. Re:And you're surprised by this... by frodo+from+middle+ea · · Score: 4, Interesting
      how so, they are not stopping anyone from making another anti-virus for *nix. Actually that's precisely their point of fustration with Open source products, they can't buy them off.

      besides i had never even heard of this AV company before, and I suspect their *nix AV products were not exactly selling like hot cakes. So from a business POV this makes perfect sense.

      --
      for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
    3. Re:And you're surprised by this... by danheskett · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not really...
      For example, When Chrysler and Dailmer merged, did they drop redudant lines, and stop production of cars that compete with our products of the new merged company? You bet.

      Second, MS did not purchase this other maker to "stop them from making producting for a competing operating system". Clearly, MS purchased them for their head-start on MS's own platform. It actually does make a difference.

      Third and finally, one thing to note is that when the DOJ's consent decree with MS expires it will no longer be assumed that MS is a monopoly to the DOJ, meaning anything that requires that for a basis will have to be litigated from scratch, with MS being proven a monpoly in desktop OS's. With the state of the market it will prove prodigiously hard to prove that: between Linux and Mac Windows pretty clearly does not have a monopoly.

    4. Re:And you're surprised by this... by Guillermito · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even though a Unix/Linux server may not need the protection of antivirus software, it still makes sense to run antivirus software on them.

      For example, if the Unix/Linux box is a mail server you can run all routed messages through an antivirus filter before delivering them to Windows machines.

    5. Re:And you're surprised by this... by DJStealth · · Score: 4, Informative
      I am not their fan either, but they are withing their rights here, Besides who really needs a AV for unix anyway ?
      Keep in mind that the antivirus software is for messaging servers. Just because the server is running Linux/Unix, does not necessarily mean that the clients are. It is still useful to have a virus scanner for *nix to catch things in e-mail before it gets to the windows/client side.
    6. Re:And you're surprised by this... by tbcpp · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, Microsoft does not have a monopoly on anti-virus software, they just have a monopoly on virii. They won't run on anything but Windows!

      --
      Man is the lowest-cost, 150-pound, nonlinear, all-purpose computer system which can be mass-produced by unskilled labor.
    7. Re:And you're surprised by this... by Valdrax · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you're confusing vertical and horizontal integration.

      When Dahmler-Chrysler was formed, two companies that competed in the same space with the same type of products got rid of redundant offering within the same space. This is horizontal integration. This is not what Microsoft did.

      When Standard Oil bought up all the producers of oil barrels to deny their competitors access, it was performing vertical integration to remove tools needed by competitors. This is what Microsoft did.

      Microsoft has bought a product that makes UNIX and Linux servers more attractive by giving them needed security protections and has destroyed it for the express purpose of making UNIX and Linux servers less attractive. This is similar to what Standard Oil did only a little less drastic because you can still sell and use non-Windows servers without virus protection unlike oil without barrels to carry it in.

      Whether this is an antitrust violation is a question for experts in the area, but it's certainly anticompetitive behavior.

      --
      If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
    8. Re:And you're surprised by this... by JLF65 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is the SECOND AV maker that supported Unix/linux that MS has bought and then stopped Unix/linux support. How many will it take to convince you? Four? Ten? All of them?

  2. Who cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative


    ClamAV is actually becoming usable, more hands might light work etc

    1. Re:Who cares by Limburgher · · Score: 4, Informative

      Sorry, ClamAV is not merely usable, ClamAV is awesome. They update quickly, and one can set up regular updates and scans with cron in seconds. It catches stuff McAfee misses and it has a nearly transparent milter. The milter's a bit tough to set up from scratch, but you can still scan your maildirs with cron if you like. That might be good enough for some orgs. But by and large ClamAV is all you need.

      --

      You are not the customer.

  3. Okay, Okay by brotherscrim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know lots of people here are going to cry foul, but come on: Who was gonna buy anti-virus software for linux from Microsoft?

  4. This is good! by mboos · · Score: 4, Funny

    Microsoft is affirming that Linux and Unix are more secure than Windows and don't require anti-virus software!

    --
    --Mike Boos
  5. sounds like an admission by Microsoft by yagu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the article:

    Syabri becomes a Microsoft subsidiary focusing on marketing anti-virus and anti-spam protection for Microsoft messaging and collaboration servers. It will continue to market Sybari's Lotus Domino products but will not sell Antigen versions for Unix and Linux...

    Well this says to me one of two things:

    1. Microsoft is (metaphorically) sticking out its tongue at the Unix/Linux universe, as well as every regulatory body with which they've "dealt" in the last ten years, or
    2. Microsoft cedes the reliability and small risk and vulnerability of Unix/Linux products over Windows and will thus focus continued energy to try and approach that level of security in Windows.

    You be the judge.

    I guess I'm just happy Microsoft can't buy linux and drop all support for that.

    1. Re:sounds like an admission by Microsoft by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No one used these products to stop Linux/Unix machines from getting compromised. This software was run on Linux/Unix machines to stop Windows clients they served from getting compromised. It filled a real need, if one filled by other products as well. MS killed them because it probably plans to integrate the functionality into its Windows server offerings and does not like offering software that does not lock you in to their OS's.

  6. Hey, it's a smart move by spellraiser · · Score: 5, Funny

    Selling anti-virus services for Unix/Linux is like selling ice cream to polar bears anyway. It's good to see Microsoft focusing on the real problems :P

    --
    I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
  7. Remember folks by FunWithHeadlines · · Score: 4, Funny
    Remember folks, this is called innovation, and it is how Microsoft has thrived through the years by giving the consumer choice and high-quality products. Isn't it great to have such a fine company looking out for the needs of the marketplace by removing unnecessary choice from our lives? Oh sure, the carpers could point out that Microsoft has no obligation to support a competitor's marketplace. But I choose to stay in the warm sushine of Microsoft's benevolence, and trust that if they say we don't need a product, that's good enough for me.

    Innovate onward, kind Microsoft!

  8. Well, Duh! by overshoot · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Talk about making a strategic value out of your own product's flaws:
    1. MSWindows machines draw malware like crap draws flies
    2. Sysadmins install filters on their *nix mail servers to shield the (vulnerable|culpable) MSWin machines
    3. MS buys up any company producing filters for *nix servers
    4. MS shuts down the *nix side of the business
    5. MS then sells MS servers because they're the only ones that can protect the MS clients.
    6. Profit! (Not to mention more market dominance)
    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
    1. Re:Well, Duh! by slavemowgli · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That's one possible outcome. The other one would be

      5. Customer decides to ditch all remaining windows installation and use only Unix in the future, ceases to care about malware
      6. Customer saves money (for licenses), saves more money (for administration), and also saves time and hassles
      7. M$ loses customer
      8. M$ loses money.

      They're really gambling here - they take away the middle path and hope that out of the remaining options, you'll choose the one that gives them more money instead of the one that gives them less money. Obviously, they think they *can* pull it off, but in the end, nobody likes a bully, so even if they gain some money in the short term, they do lose customer trust over the long term.

      The fact that they fail to see this and *still* think that they can base their business model on terrorizing people instead of acting in a benevolent way where the customer is king just shows that despite everything, they still aren't thinking about what'll happen in the long term and where they'll be in, say, 50 or 100 years.

      Which, incidentally, is exactly the timeframe where the current high-ups like Gates and Ballmer and the like who cashed in big time won't be around anymore to care about the losses that will come.

      --
      quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
  9. Re:Unix Viruses? by dfn5 · · Score: 4, Informative
    Unix Viruses? Probably due to the lack of viruses/customers

    This is true, however, it is nice to be able to scan for Microsoft viruses on your Unix file and email servers. Oh well. Good thing there is ClamAV.

    --
    -- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
  10. what if he wasn't convicted? by BitterAndDrunk · · Score: 4, Funny
    I agree, it's like leaving your child to the care of an ex-pedophile.

    Sure he could a Smooth Criminal, but maybe he's just a fun guy who the kids think is a real Thriller!

    --
    You better watch out, there may be dogs about . . .
  11. No big loss either. by KerberosKing · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are plenty alternatives like those listed in the unix-linux antivirus mini-faq http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/openantiviru s/mini-faq/av-unix_e.txt?rev=1.40&view=markup Kindly compiled by the OpenAntivirus Project http://www.openantivirus.org/

  12. Re:OhNo! by i.r.id10t · · Score: 5, Funny

    Heh. I went to a convention where wireless users had to show that they had AV software installed before being given the connection info. Had my Linux laptop there, they wouldn't let me on until I could show them some antivirus software running. Left, came back an hour later (after breakfast), and ran my "anti virus software".

    #!/bin/bash
    echo Scanning memory for viruses...
    sleep 2
    echo OK. System clean.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
  13. Really odd by mcc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How these acquisitions are chosen.

    Microsoft needs to expand into the video game market. They buy the one game company with heavy support for macintoshes (which then ends).
    Microsoft needs to expand into the virtualization market. They buy the one virtualization company with heavy support for macintoshes (which then suffers).
    Microsoft needs to expand into the antivirus email filter market. They buy one of the antivirus companies with support for linux/unix (which then ends).

    Funny how these coincidences work.

    --
    Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
  14. RAV (Romainian Anti -Virus) by PhYrE2k2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    They did the same thing with RAV (Romainian Anti -Virus)- one of the best qmail/sendmail/postfix/courier and console+monitoring virus scanners when M$ bought it.

    First the sales stopped, then the virus definitions took a few days to get updated on each big 'outbreak', then they stopped coming at all... *sniff*

    Fortunately by then, ClamAV had matured more than it did when we purchased RAV for our mail servers, and it was kicked to the curb.

    In any case, why is this news? Microsoft decides not to put THEIR MONEY (since they purchased it) into their competitors products... duh!

    -M

    --

    when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
  15. Re:*sigh* by a_greer2005 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes If it were apple, /. would post.

  16. Cutting off their nose to spite their face by pandrijeczko · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I hate to say this but UNIX and Linux do not get viruses.

    Virus detection programs on UNIX or Linux are usually deployed on mail servers that kill the viruses before they hit Windows-based mail clients.

    Therefore, cutting support puts Windows mail clients connected to UNIX mail servers at threat.

    Stupid, stupid decision from a company that claims to be serious about security.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
  17. Not the first time they've done this by DieByWire · · Score: 4, Insightful
    They bought out RAV a few years ago and buried Linux support. After that things got even worse.

    We switched to Vexira from Central Command. Midway through our contract, CC was kind enough to tell us we had to upgrade to their new software, and by the way, you have less than a week to do it. This was between Christmas and New Years. Did I say the the new software didn't support our existing OS? (RH 7.2, patches from Progeny.)

    Every time we've used proprietary AV software we've gotten screwed.

    Solution: apt-get install clamav.

    --
    Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
  18. In other news ... by lord_rob+the+only+on · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unix/Linux has decided to cut virus support.

  19. Open Source Alternatives by vhogemann · · Score: 4, Informative

    ClamAV
    http://www.clamav.net/

    OpenAntiVirus Project
    http://www.openantivirus.org/

    Actualy I have an Email server setup wit Postfix + AmavisNEW + SA + ClamAV, and I'm yet to see a virus that passed undetected.

    Check our virus detection statistics here:
    http://integracao.saude.rio.rj.gov.br/amavis-stats /

    We're behind the main corporate server, so our department depends on it to send or receive email. They use a NortonAV server, but more than once an infected email passed trough, and it were stoped by our Server.

    So I now wonder how ClamAV would perform against the proprietary alternatives...

    I really want to try it, but our "corporate policy" states that every email traffic must pass trough the "homologated" AV solution. We're actally the only department that is really using Linux for real, and the rest of the company still has this strong Microsoft culture and don't quite trust Open Source...

    --
    ---- You know how some doctors have the Messiah complex - they need to save the world? You've got the "Rubik's" complex