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The Netscaping of Symantec and McAfee
rs232 writes to mention a C|Net article about the uncertain future of the popular anti-virus software companies. "I mention Netscape because, if you believe Symantec and McAfee, a similar situation is about to unfold within the security industry. Microsoft, again recognizing late that it had failed to seize upon this thing called security, is now about to bundle its own security solutions within Windows Vista and further enforce new security policies that lock out some third-party security solutions altogether. Vendors Symantec and McAfee have looked into the future and realized that people may one day speak of them in the way that we now speak reverently of the early builds of Netscape."
Have you forgotten how things have changed?
MS was engaged in mortal combat with Netscape--NS was threatening to make the OS "irrelevant".
Now, MS is solidly enthroned. They're not looking to eliminate threats, they're looking for new revenue. So they're locking up the kernel and creating tollbooth API's so that any company that wants access to the Windows kernel will pay a handsome tribute to Emperor Bill. And best of all, MS will be collecting from both sides: the 'security' vendors and the adware/rootkit/DRM vendors. They're essentially selling their home customers (who are already completly sold on the need for some kind of animated security crap) to the vendors.
Enterprise customers, who know how to secure their machines and don't want Symantec and the like anyway, will instead pay MS more through 'enterprise' licenses and management tools.
Control the market and make everyone pay: it's a superb strategy, just ask the telcos or the government.
It's always funny when a 4-year-old gets onto /. Call us back when you've seen what happens in the real world. You know, the one where multi-billion dollar oil companies hire soldiers to machine gun local people who are objecting to their land being stolen.