Is there method in Microsoft's security buys?

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vetting code before pushing out products. Also, Microsoft does have protective programs that it built itself, such as the Windows Firewall for PCs and the ISA Server firewall for server computers.

This internal development and the outside acquisitions have left Microsoft holding a range of technologies. The question is how the company will tie all these together and how they can work with its lineup. "It is not the purchase that is important; it is how well Microsoft can integrate the purchase into its existing products and services," Directions on Microsoft's Cherry said.

Signed and sealed

Microsoft has bought up key companies and intellectual property rights with an eye to offering security add-ons for Windows systems and company networks.

FrontBridge Technologies

Company: Based in Marina del Rey, Calif. Privately held

Products: Hosted e-mail and messaging security and compliance services

Deal: Acquisition expected to close before the end of the third quarter pending routine regulatory review

Date: July 2005

Plans: Offer Exchange users a hosted service for security and compliance

Finjan Software

Company: Based in San Jose, Calif. Privately held

Products: Appliances for behavior-based protection against unknown security threats

Deal: Minority investment, patent licensing

Date: July 2005

Plans: Microsoft has not said how it will use Finjan's ideas in products

Sybari Software

Company: Based in East Northport, N.Y. Privately held

Products: Software to filter viruses and spam on networks. Antivirus engine not included

Deal: Acquisition, now a subsidiary

Date: February 2005

Plans: Antivirus and antispam tool for e-mail and collaboration servers

Giant Company Software

Company: Based in New York. Privately owned

Products: Software to combat spyware, pop-ups and spam

Deal: Acquisition, now a subsidiary

Date: December 2004

Plans: Anti-spyware product for Windows (in beta for consumers), enterprise version also planned

GeCad

Company: Based in Bucharest, Romania. Privately held

Products: RAV antivirus engine

Deal: Sale of technology and intellectual property

Date: June 2003

Plans: Paid antivirus add-on for Windows; to integrate with Sybari software. Also used in Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool and OneCare consumer security product

And that is where the company has not delivered, Cherry said. The software maker bought GeCad in 2003, but the antivirus technology has yet to surface in a Microsoft product. Yes, in its security patches Microsoft offers a tool to detect malicious code, but it is not "obvious that they have capitalized on the GeCad purchase," Cherry said.

Also, while the Giant anti-spyware product was turned into a Windows AntiSpyware beta release within a month, it still is in its first beta seven months later, and there is no word on when a final version might be delivered, Cherry said.

Integration of acquired technologies takes awhile, Microsoft's Roberts said. "Like most investments, technology investments often require time to mature in order to realize their full potential to customers," she said.

Microsoft appears to be busy working on its product portfolio. Selected testers recently got their hands on Windows OneCare, a subscription antivirus and anti-spyware service for consumers. OneCare marks Microsoft's entry into the antivirus space--until now the domain of specialized vendors such as Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro.

As with Windows AntiSpyware, however, Microsoft has not committed to a delivery date for the final OneCare product. A broad public beta is planned in the United States later this year, Microsoft has said.

Microsoft completed the acquisition of Sybari last month. The company continues to offer a range of Sybari products for Windows. Microsoft has also said that it will support the Sybari lineup predating the buy, but that it plans to stop selling tools for Unix and Linux.

Jupiter Research's Schatsky predicts that Microsoft will slow the pace of acquisitions over the coming year.

"At the same time, the pace of integrations may increase, as they have obtained a lot of new technology that now needs to be integrated into their products," he said.

Over the next months, a sense of Microsoft's grand plan for security may well emerge. But for now, some industry insiders are left scratching their heads, given the pattern of acquisitions. Microsoft's latest security buy, that of hosted e-mail security services provider FrontBridge, has Dean Drako, CEO of e-mail security appliance maker Barracuda Networks, wondering what the company is up to.

"Microsoft has traditionally been more of a software company than a service company," Drako said. "I am not sure what is going on."

[gfsdfge]

If I hear the word Innovation one more time...

I'm gonna PUKE!

[folsco]

Advise

It's better u do that now.

[captnet]

You say Why?

Real easy, buy the competition or just kill it. Now that's Innovation!!! Most people would call 'trustworthy computing' doing their job. Not MS, they are doing something special. More marketing, more lies.

[Bill Dautrive]

If MS buys it all up

If MS buys up all the security companies that puts them to shame, then MS can claim that they are the 'most secure'.

That is Microsofts way of getting and staying on top. Buy out and destroy the competition.

Look at Acrylic, they bought some decent software and ruined it to the point of it being a really bad copy of a crappy Photoshop knockoff, that does 10% of what photoshop does.

That is MS innovation for you.

[jmmejzz]

MS concern not Security

If MS was so concerned about security, they would working to fix
the issues that keep security companies in business not buying
them up. Independent third parties will always be better as a
watchdog rather then a wholly owned subsidiary.

[Scott W]

they should make it mor secure

the problem MS face is that THEY put these anti-virus companies in business and if they do anything now they can be accused of anti-competitive behaviour which is a shame. however they have dug their own grave and are now stuck in a catch-22. if they stay the way they are then more people will be infected by viruses and more complaints will be sent their way, whereas if they increase the security of windows then they go to court for anti-competitive behaviour. there is an alternative to just buying anti-virus companies which is to make VISTA more secure. they are trying bless em but they will not succeed. all the bells and whistles that they seem obsessed with adding will just bring the system down.

[phytopath]

Reality and Perception

MS is battling the reality of viruses and spyware coupled with the perception that it's OS is held together with spit and bandaids. Last year I bought an iBook. OS X is elegant, very functional and it just works. After dealing with problem after problem at work and at home I decided to make a change. I'm not interested in debating which OS is inherently more secure. In the here and now OS X for me is the better choice for security and overall quality. What OS X will be like in the future is an open question. Win XP is fine but it feels very clunky when compared to OS X. MS wants to position their OS as a secure platform that can easily handle content like movies and music, but I walked into Office Depot a few weeks ago and saw a Media Center PC displaying a big fat error message on it's screen. I asked myself if I wanted to deal with the same old crap I deal with at work just to play a movie or record a TV show. Does anyone want to constantly mess with this just to do what I already do with other products? I didn't stop to check what it was about and it probably was something trivial but it cemented an already poor perception I had of their OS. Vista might be wonderful and cool and have bells and whistles and pretty shiny things but I have a long memory of BSODs, crashes and indidious spyware which may or may not be MS's fault. Vista will have to be an extremely high quality, secure OS in itself otherwise they're going to lose video as well as music to Apple. Buying security companies is great but it's not going to help if the OS itself isn't worth using. MS probably isn't worried. I think it should be.