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EU Approves Intel's McAfee Purchase After Interoperability Pledge

Posted by Soulskill on from the viruses-and-lag-inside dept.

An anonymous reader tips news that the European Union has given their approval for Intel's purchase of McAfee for $7.7 billion after the chipmaker promised it wouldn't try to stifle competition for other security programs running on Intel hardware or McAfee software running on rival hardware. "Under the agreement, Intel committed to providing other security vendors with the technology needed to tap the same functionality in its processors and chipsets available to McAfee. In addition, Intel pledged to continue having McAfee software support the products of rival chipmakers, which would include Advanced Micro Devices. The European Commission will monitor Intel for compliance. 'The commitments submitted by Intel strike the right balance, as they allow preserving both competition and the beneficial effects of the merger,' Joaquin Almunia, commission VP in charge of competition policy, said in a statement. 'These changes will ensure that vigorous competition is maintained and that consumers get the best result in terms of price, choice, and quality of the IT security products.'"

6 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The US need an European Union by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Too bad our existing agencies have sold out!

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  2. well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    well, as long as they *promise*

    did anyone check if they had their fingers crossed behind their back? did they pinky-swear?

    1. Re:well... by HomelessInLaJolla · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Completely.

      So when the virus scan begins to become part of the hardware, and the hardware routines get optimized to the point where the OS begins to favor hardware (like who would choose software 3D over hardware 3D in today's gaming world?), then software AV becomes, more or less, obsolete.

      Embrace. Extend. Extinguish. Is that how it went?

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  3. What's the penalty for breaking that pledge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Intel could decide it'll be cheaper to break the pledge and pay a fine rather than uphold it.

  4. 7.7 BEEELIUN dollars by Beerdood · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is anyone else shocked that mcafee is worth this much, or somehow got 7.7 billion dollars? Wow.. As a company they're only focused on one product (anti-virus software) that's bloated, not free (like many equally useful alternatives, i.e. windows essential, avg, avast, malwarebytes, many more..). How could they be valued so high?

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  5. McAfee by 56ker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've been called out many times to clients complaining of slow computers. The reason they're slow is bloatware software like McAfee or Norton has been installed. These companies just prey on the gullible, then milk their victims yearly with extortionate amounts for yearly virus definition updates. I've lost track of the times people have called saying their computer is suffering from a virus, when it isn't and it's a hardware related fault. The media unfortunately help companies like McAfee spread so much fear about viruses that some consumers are frightened into buying their product. There are free options out there, many of which don't have such deleterious effects on computer performance and don't pop up with nagging messages each time the user wants to do something simple.

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