Third buy's a charm for Microsoft security?

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acquisition will give rise to stand-alone products, Pescatore said. The technologies will help Microsoft build components that can detect threats and distribute protection, both for consumer desktops and for corporate networks.

Incumbents in the security industry said that the Microsoft acquisitions do not change the landscape all that much.

Symantec, for example, believes that Microsoft's products are unlikely to support non-Windows systems, said Enrique Salem, a senior vice president in the security giant's network and gateway group. With its client companies clamoring for less-complex management products, the ability of Symantec products to manage all operating systems will be a key advantage, Salem said.

"Microsoft needs to protect their platform, which is what you see them doing," he said. "But enterprise security is much broader than the Microsoft platform."

Kaspersky Lab, which developed a version of its antivirus engine to work with Sybari's products, believes that Microsoft will continue to be more of a partner than a competitor, said Steve Orenberg, president of Kaspersky Lab's U.S. operations.

"We would hope that Microsoft would continue to offer Kaspersky as an option," he said. "Sybari users have a choice of antivirus engines, and they choose us for a number of reasons. We have hourly updates and rapid response."

Microsoft's move into the enterprise market is more threatening to Symantec and McAfee, argued Orenberg, because those companies compete directly with Sybari.

And Symantec, McAfee and other antivirus and security players have rested on their laurels too long, said Gartner's Pescatore. He said he believes that Microsoft's security strategy could disrupt the flow of antivirus subscriptions that were a cash cow for those companies last year.

"If the antivirus guys had been innovating over the last 10 years, there is no way that Microsoft could have done this," he said. "Instead, they have been living off their antivirus subscriptions. It's one of the (few) industries where the product does the same thing, but they have raised the prices."

Microsoft's entry into the antivirus subscription market could drive down prices--and profits--by 20 percent, Pescatore predicted.

Other analysts argued that the danger to Symantec and other bellwether security companies is not so great.

"The fact that they are Microsoft and they have an 'in,' doesn't mean they are going to be successful," said Gene Munster, a senior research analyst with investment firm Piper Jaffrey. "The situation sounds bad, and it may cause people that are buying products to wait. But at the end of the day, Microsoft is not going to compete as much as people think."

While the planned acquisition of Sybari has made Microsoft's plans for the corporate market clearer, the company's consumer plans still lack definition, Munster said.

"The big unanswered question is what they are going to be doing in the consumer space--and for that, we have to wait," he said.

[jltnol]

Wrong Direction.... AGAIN

It would make much more sense for Billy Boy to actually FIX it's
software than buy up programs that repair it.

Given the choice of a stable OS with very little security risk, or a
OS with more risk and a good spyware/adware/virus
program...... which one would you choose?

[catchall]

Unless, of course...

Microsoft is actually moving in the direction you are thinking they should. Remember, MS didn't just purchase a product; they also acquired Sybari Softwares skill and knowledge in how to stop a virus. If ( and I do say if ) MS in turn uses this skill set to write/rewrite better code, we will wind up with the best of both choices you offered.

[unknown unknown]

Reply

Viruses, spyware, and adware can be written for any system. The toughest part (apparently it's not all that tough) is getting people to install them. Lets not kid ourselves and mistake the lack of such software a given platform is by it's self an indication of better security.

[technewsjunkie]

Threat to antivirus makers is understated.

Blaming the Antivirus firms as coasting from a Gartner analyst is
an excuse to let Microsoft ravage another market by integrating
a "good enough" version into the Windows distribution channel
and monopoly.

[technewsjunkie]

See link for different perspective...

"Microsoft's announcement yesterday that it will buy into the
email server antivirus market **wiped millions of dollars off the
value** of the big publicly listed security firms"

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=FFB90845" target="_newWindow">http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=FFB90845</a>
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