For some, the thought of Microsoft making security software is like somebody coming into your house, setting it on fire and then offering you home insurance.
"We wouldn't need security software if Windows wasn't so insecure!" they'll chortle.
That perception is almost certainly why Microsoft isn't charging for its Security Essentials package - well, that and the comparative failure of OneCare to set the security world on fire - but if Microsoft delivers a decent product then it could be seriously bad news for some existing PC security firms. It could also be seriously good news for the rest of us.
A free, decent security suite isn't the greatest news for AVG and other free AV providers, because their products are essentially gateway drugs: they give you the free version and start to nag, nag and nag a wee bit more until you shell out for the paid-for version just to get some peace and quiet.
However, the firms that provide such programs are minnows in marketing terms compared to Microsoft, so if the giant decides to shout about its security suite then most of the free-AV market is going to go to it.
It doesn't really matter whether Microsoft's version is better or worse than, say, AVG Free: people have heard of Microsoft and haven't heard of Grisoft.
The big names
What about the big-name firms, the McAfees and the Symantecs? Somehow we doubt they're quaking in their boots. Their packages are more comprehensive than Microsoft's one - for now at least - and more importantly, they tend to pay hardware firms to stick trial copies on new PCs.
In these straitened times PC firms aren't going to want to lose that cash, and if you think Microsoft is going to try to pay firms to preload its security stuff you haven't been paying attention to its endless legal woes, especially in Europe.
Where Microsoft's move does become relevant, though, is when people get a free trial of a McAfee or Symantec product, use it until it expires and then go "money? Don't be silly!" when the final nag screen appears.
If they don't then install AVG or Avast - and they don't, or at least they don't in significant numbers - then their PCs become part of the great unprotected mass of PCs that deliver so much of the spam, denial of service attacks and all the other things that make the internet so unpleasant.
If Microsoft can reach those people, it won't just make the internet more pleasant. It'll make your life more pleasant, too.
The people who don't bother with security software are the people who collar you at Christmas and ask you to see why their PC is running so slowly, leaving you to strip out six months of malware while everyone else gets stuck into the mince pies.
Cleaning up the net and saving Christmas for geeks? You can't accuse Microsoft of lacking ambition.
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Liked this? Then check out Hands on: Microsoft Security Essentials review
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Your comments (1) Click to add a new comment
caimbeul
September 29th 2009
1. "The people who don't bother with security software are the people who collar you at Christmas and ask you to see why their PC is running so slowly, leaving you to strip out six months of malware while everyone else gets stuck into the mince pies." I disagree!
Yes there are countless idiots out there that believe they have been infected with some virus etc whena wesite pop-up tells them so and then follows the link for 'free removal software' and other schemes designed for idiots but I have never run the intrusive, resource hugging and restrictive bloatware that is anti-virus software. Spybot Search & Destroy and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware along with a reasonable amount of common sense is enough to protect you. In 12 years i have had 2 viruses. One made its way in through dodgy media inseed into the floppy drive (back in the early days) and the other when someone else used my PC.
Regarding the rest of the article though, fair play...Could be good news for most if it is decent software.
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