Microsoft Admits to Serious Problems with OneCare

ZDOne writes "A ZDNet reporter has gotten some truly amazing quotes out of a Microsoft product manager about the troubled OneCare product. Arno Edelmann, Microsoft's European business security product manager, was flagged down at this week's CeBit event, and had this to say about the service: 'Usually Microsoft doesn't develop products, we buy products. It's not a bad product, but bits and pieces are missing ... OneCare is a new product — they shouldn't have rolled it out when they did, but they're fixing the problems now.' The problem is apparently with the the GeCAD antivirus code, which has had problems harmonizing with the company's Exchange updates. While Exchange 2007 doesn't cause issues, users with older versions may see their email quarantined as a matter of course."

Comments

Re:Far more interesting admission

[dgatwood]

Case in point, iTunes started out life as SoundJam MP. I think it is safe to say that it, combined with the iPod that it enabled, has radically altered the landscape of music sales. Significant innovation, in large part stemming from an acquisition. Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro have radically altered the landscape of the field of video editing and DVD development. Final Cut Pro was originally a Macromedia product called Final Cut. DVD Studio Pro? Astarte DVDirector. Both products have substantially improved since the acquisition, of course, but they are still innovation through acquisition and improvement rather than through starting from scratch.

Everybody innovates at least in part through acquisition. The difference is that Microsoft seems to innovate almost exclusively through acquisition. :-D

ZDNet Editorial: "The slow poison of OneCase"

[Keeloid]

If you thought the original story was embarrassing, check out the editorial on OneCare http://opinion.zdnet.co.uk/leader/0,1000002208,392 86364,00.htm

Re:It finds itself to be a virus too

[Master of Transhuman]

Heh, heh, wait until you have to UPDATE Norton - which will then fail one of its updates - not the actual AV update, one of their other half dozen different updates - TWO of my clients have this problem now.

Or wait until it tells you that it has an "internal problem" and must be uninstalled and reinstalled - one of those two clients has THAT problem on yet another machine. TWO different Norton problems on two machines out of 22 machines - that's a ten percent failure rate.

Then wait until you have to uninstall it - and it doesn't.

Then you have to go their support Web site, jump through hoops to download a tool to REALLY uninstall it.

Norton is total bloated, slow, resource-hogging, unreliable CRAP - which is no longer in the top five AV detectors anyway based on AV Comparatives studies. Nobody should use it regardless of their AV needs.