Microsoft Officially Announces Anti-Virus Product

Harry Maugans writes "Microsoft has officially announced their entrance into the anti-virus market. By combining anti-virus scans, anti-spyware scans, and firewall protection into a single package, Microsoft thinks they've created something fresh. So fresh they're charging an annual fee of $49.99 per year." From the article: "Microsoft's Windows OneCare Live program will be launched in June and made available online and via retailers for an annual fee of $49.95 on up to three machines. Customers who beta test Windows OneCare Live between April 1 and April 30 get to take advantage of a special $19.95 promotional price. Microsoft's pricing means Windows OneCare subscribers are likely to pay less up front than if they bought traditional anti-virus software like Symantec, for example, whose Norton AntiVirus 2006 protection pack for three PCs lists at $89.99."

Comments

Re:Extortion

[Namronorman]

No I don't think it's wrong for you to feel this way and I think more people would understand if you explained it in more simpler terms. You buy a piece of software, it's buggy, they'll fix their mistakes... but you have to pay for it. The idea of paying for other people's mistakes when they're aware of it and fully capable of fixing it for free just really steams me.

Re:Cool

[JonTurner]

>>So now they sell you the problem and the fix!

It's a "fix" in the sense of a drug addict getting a dose. Doesn't solve the underlying problems, but makes the pain go away for a short while.

Re:Extortion

[pllewis]

Why is Microsoft considered evil when they introduce an anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall for a fee. This is purely a business decision to protect Microsoft from lawsuits.

A similar reason you don't let baseball players bet on baseball. They can minipulate the outcome. You have to trust them not to taint the product to sell additional services. The only thing you can trust in business, is that business will do whatever they can to satisfy their shareholders(make money). If this goes through anti-trust, and people buy this service, this would probable replace Office and it's OS licensing as MS's single source of income revenue. But, on the lighter side, think of how much bigger a loss MS could take to sell XBOX360's!!! Sony could never compete then.