Security Companies Tussle With MS Security Center

hey0you0guy writes, "The large security firms such as Symantec and McAfee want Microsoft to allow them to replace Microsoft's Windows Security Center. Microsoft is refusing these requests. 'By imposing the Windows Security Center on all Windows users, Microsoft is defining a template through which everybody looks at security,' Bruce McCorkendale, a chief engineer at Symantec, said in an interview. 'How do we trust that Microsoft knows what all the important things about security are to warn users about?' Given Microsoft's past, with vast piles of security flaws and patches, they should at least cooperate with these companies. A dispute still exists over PatchGuard, a security feature that Microsoft says is designed to guard core parts of the 64-bit version of Vista, but which critics say locks out helpful software from security rivals."

Comments

I cry not for McAffee and Symantec.

[mumblestheclown]

So, McAffee/Symantec..

Has actual PC security actually interested you in the past, say, decade? I was of the impression that you just paid some second rate programmer in bangalore a load of bananas to churn out any old crap that had the following requirements:

1. we must be able to sell it in regular, deluxe, gold, platinum, internet, special edition, international, lite, and fat free versions. after all, this allows the user to pay for the exact level of security they need. consumer choice, right! some people only want to pay a little and thus be protected only against some vague subset of last year's threats, while others want to pay more and thus be protected a bit more against some vague subset of last year's threats.

2. as in #1, the software must be sold in yearly versions. this allows users to respond to the cutting edge threats of 2003 by buying the 2005 version, still on sale in CompUSA (probably).

3. we must really focus our efforts on getting this shiat pre-loaded on as many chain store PCs as posslbe. WARNING YOUR COMPUTER IS AT RISK! DO YOU WANT TO PAY $99.99 PER YEAR NOW TO UPGRADE? Your choices are [ Yes ] and [ Ask me again in 5 minutes with a big ass system modal dialog box ]

4. The software must be impossible to uninstall, for Sound Business Reasons (tm). Well, we should include an uninstall routine, but ensure that it does not work if the software is modified in any way.

Re:Arrrrr!

[Shadyman]

You will also frequently run into problems where one AV program will label the other AV program as a virus.

That's not a bug, it's a feature. It's called 'competition' :p