Microsoft buys antivirus company

[Tranquility]

Microsoft announced that it has acquired Sybari software, which makes corporate antivirus solutions.

Read about it here (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-08-2005/0002986752&EDATE=).

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire Sybari Software Inc., a leading provider of security products that help more than 10,000 businesses worldwide protect their messaging and collaboration servers from viruses, worms and spam. Microsoft will use this acquisition to further provide its enterprise customers with new solutions to help protect them from malicious software.

This is in line with news that MS is planning to offer an antivirus solution. Hopefully it will be both functional and free, provided as a part of the OS.

[frogesque]

Free? I wouldn't hold your breath. More likely bundled bloat on a new OS which I don't see MS giving away. AV etc. requires daily if not hourly updating of the databases, that requires technical input which costs money. Mr Gates may be actively philanthopic in disposing of his personal fortune but businesswise he has never run a charitable instution.

[Amadeus]

There wouldn't be such a need for anti virus softs if there werent so many holes in windows....

It's like someone building you a house. Then comming back 3 months later to sell you the locks for the door.

Just fix windows. I've used an Mac all my working life. Currently have a G5. And you know what. Not One Virus! Ever, not one.

[Metricyard]

There wouldn't be such a need for anti virus softs if there werent so many holes in windows....

It's like someone building you a house. Then comming back 3 months later to sell you the locks for the door.

Just fix windows. I've used an Mac all my working life. Currently have a G5. And you know what. Not One Virus! Ever, not one.

The problem I see is that Microsoft has so much crap imbedded into the OS, it would be impossible to fix. If they fix one part of the OS, they break others. Look at Service Pack 2. Microsoft did fix quite a few bugs, but introduced a whole slew of new ones.

This is why Unix/Linux/BSD's have the advantage. The *nix operating systems are just that, an operating systems, with every program riding on top of the OS.

Now whats going to happen when MS intergrates an anti-virus software into their OS? I can see bad things happening.

[Captain Kidd]

Speaking of bringing locks 3 months later. Microsoft released a big patch yesterday. I ran it before the auto update got around to checking. If you have it turned off you might want to moisy over to their update page. 10 different items and apparently some rather large security hole fixes. (Which probably create more security holes.)

[Celestial Mechanic]

Microsoft announced that it has acquired Sybari software, which makes corporate antivirus solutions.
[Snip!]
This is in line with news that MS is planning to offer an antivirus solution. Hopefully it will be both functional and free, provided as a part of the OS.
And will therefore drive other companies out of the antivirus business further tightening Microsoft's monopoly.

[Tranquility]

Not really GJ. In all their talks so far about the AV, they said it would not replace actual antivirus software, because it would be quite elementary and offer only basic protection. They're not marketing it as a replacement to existing AV solutions. Hence my hopes that it's free and functional.

[archman]

Not really GJ. In all their talks so far about the AV, they said it would not replace actual antivirus software, because it would be quite elementary and offer only basic protection..
I doubt it will remain that way for long.

[Van Rijn]

Some may remember that this wouldn't be the first time Microsoft included anti-virus software with their OS. They used to include a stripped down version of Central Point anti-virus software with some versions of DOS. Unfortunately, they didn't keep it updated, so it fell behind in the war.

Windows should have come with anti-virus software years ago. I'm not that thrilled with the current anti-virus industry, especially with the Mcafee/Symantec feud. I'm hoping this will change the rules: For the anti-virus industry today, the signature anti-virus/constant update model makes good business sense. A more sophisticated anti-virus scheme that looks for virus characteristics would be much harder to develop, but may not require constant updates, and might be able to identify viruses successfully without a specific signature. There have been some attempts in that direction (the big problem is keeping false positives down) but it just doesn't make business sense in the current industry. It is time for this to change. Too bad if it hurts some companies.

[Amadeus]

Microsoft announced that it has acquired Sybari software, which makes corporate antivirus solutions.
[Snip!]
This is in line with news that MS is planning to offer an antivirus solution. Hopefully it will be both functional and free, provided as a part of the OS.
And will therefore drive other companies out of the antivirus business further tightening Microsoft's monopoly.

I think so long as there is a Microsoft there will be plenty of buisness for AV companies. BTW if you own a mac do not use any norton product.
Bad things will befall you!