“Symantec has asked a US court to order a halt to the development of Windows Vista, claiming that its rival is wrongfully incorporating Veritas storage technology into its OS. Symantec sued Microsoft on Thursday, seeking unspecified damages and asking the court to remove Symantec’s storage technology from a variety of Microsoft products, including Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and the upcoming Vista and ‘Longhorn’ Windows Server products. ‘We’re asking them to remove the technology, because it belongs to us,’ a Symantec spokesman said. The dispute centres around an August 1996 agreement between the two companies that granted Microsoft the right to use Veritas Software’s volume-management technology in Windows product. Symantec purchased Veritas in a $10.2 billion acquisition that closed last year. Symantec claims that Microsoft misappropriated its technology and even tricked the US Patent and Trademark Office into granting Microsoft patents based on Symantec intellectual property,” Robert McMillan reports for Macworld UK.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Halting the development of Vista needs a lawsuit? We thought that was an intrinsic attribute of “Vista development.” Anyway, Symantec is basically a parasite that’s very dependent of Windows’ inherent insecurity. Now that Mafiasoft has muscled in on their turf with an annual protection fee for Windows sufferers, Symantec probably sees the end of the line for the reciprocating gravy train known by the misnomer “Windows Security.” Why anyone would pay Mafiasoft to “secure” Windows is a good question, but Symantec is right to be worried. People buy Windows, they’ll buy Windows “security” subscriptions from Mafiasoft.
Before recently trying to butter up Mac users, Symantec tried to ratchet up FUD about Mac security and, because of that, we believe that Mac users should not purchase Symantec products. Otherwise, the spectacle of two horrid companies suing each other over an issue that’s basically nonexistent for Mac users cheers us greatly. One suggestion (although shareholders might not like it): before they shutter the doors for good, wouldn’t it be more productive if Symantec just sold the company and gave the money to charity rather than to the lawyers?
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Why bother with a lawsuit? Microsoft is doing plenty on their own to halt its development. They’ve been halting it for over 4 years now.
Lawsuits, lawsuits, lawsuits!
(If you were as grumpy and sick of rain as we are here in New England right now, you’d be suing everybody in sight, too.)
this makes me giggle
this is a perfect case of ‘what goes around, comes around’.
Sun’s ZFS will eat Symantec/Veritas lunch. They’re expensive and support is um.. spotty. I’m extremely happy to see Apple looking at porting ZFS to OS X.
http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/05/01/zfs.for.mac.os.x/
Symantec has really gone pathological lately in regards to Microsoft invading it’s protection racket turf.
when your company’s future is in doubt, sue
now that’s funny, ion’tcare WHOy’are
I’ve always felt these types of lawsuits stifled innovation – but I am prone to cheer this lawsuit as Microsoft has been caught many times iwth its hand in someone else’s innovative cookie jar.
On another note, wouldn’t it be hysterical if MS finally _finished_ Vista, but had to go re-write the FS portion to remove Veritas, thus causing further delays?
we believe that Mac users should not purchase Symantec products
And I beleive Mac users should not buy Microsoft, Symantec, Creative or Shirt Pocket products either.
It’s just my opinion and I’m entitled to it.
Actually, while I tend to agree with some Symantic bashing, the Veritas software line has nothing to do with Viruses. Veritas is a fairly well-known Volume Management system, used quite often to manage large amounts of hard disk storage on servers in the commercial world. If you had a Sun server with Disk Arrays on it, for instance, you probably used a version of Vertias’ Volume Manager at some time or another to partition, map out volumes, mirrors, striping, etc. It works very well.
Although, based on how well the Veritas software works in the server environment, I’m very surpised to see that it may have been incorporated into Windows in any shape or form. Windows volume management is, well, generally laughable. Reliable? Honestly, I’ll cough oreos and milk out my nose if we keep this up.
I’d have to agree with the “expensive and spotty support” comments for Veritas, I’m afraid. Especially nowadays.
I don’t agree that Symantec is a parasite. When Symantec came on the scene, it did provide a good, valuable and needed service. Windows (and at a time, Macs) had problems with viruses. Apple fixed that problem with the advent of OS X, but Microsoft still has major issues, as we all know. Symantec is still a valuable tool for those forced to use Windows. I do agree with MDN’s take regarding Symantec trying to scare Mac users into buying a product they don’t need, and I see no problem with boycotting the company due to that tactic.
Of note, Symantec is trying to move into other markets so that they are not reliant on the anti-virus incomes. Hence the purchase of Veritas. Microsoft is the real bad guy here, and I hope that this hits them hard!
We thought that was an intrinsic attribute of “Vista development.”
Vista Development. It’s an oxymoron.
Is the issue that Microsoft was supposed to move Longhorn/Vista/Godot to a whole new file system unrelated to the Veritas technology, but discovered it didn’t work, went back to the Veritas technology they were already using but didn’t plan a license for, and then couldn’t come to terms with a greedy Symantec who want too exorbitant a price for a contract renewal?
Tommy Boy: Good take. I don’t know if that is possibly the reason, but what company other that Microsoft would deserve to have something like that happen to them?
Geez…..this sounds really familiar.
Doctor please take the TARDIS back to 1992 and tell us what happened…
Microsoft stole Stacker;s data storage technology. Called doublespace in DOS 6.0. Got away with it. Stacker went the way of the dinosoaur.
Doctor please take the TARDIS to 2007….
Microsoft steals Veritas. Makes it part of Vista. Gets away with it. Symantec selling office furniture.
What is so difficult to believe here. This is M$ S.O.P.
“Geez…..this sounds really familiar.
Doctor please take the TARDIS back to 1992 and tell us what happened…
Microsoft stole Stacker;s data storage technology. Called doublespace in DOS 6.0. Got away with it. Stacker went the way of the dinosoaur.
Doctor please take the TARDIS to 2007….
Microsoft steals Veritas. Makes it part of Vista. Gets away with it. Symantec selling office furniture.
What is so difficult to believe here. This is M$ S.O.P.”
Hence…a lawsuit.
FreeSpeech >And I beleive Mac users should not buy Microsoft, Symantec, Creative or Shirt Pocket products either.>
Shirt Pocket’s SuperDuper is great.
Should I spell that graet? beleive? Yuk yuk. Collidge wuz guud.
Wait, wait, wait here. Hold on a mo!
Are you telling me that Symantec is accusing Microsoft of MISAPPROPRIATING its ideas and incorporating them into its software, and then trying to claim they were really Microsoft’s ideas?
Well, call me a Johnny-come-lately, but that just doesn’t sound like something that those fine folks at Microsoft would do, does it?
I mean, just after Billy comes home from work, darns his socks, kisses his adorable little miniature poodle on the head, tucks in his kids after reading them bed-time stories and puts a hot cup of cocoa in front of his wife, I’m sure the last thing on his mind is megalomaniacal world domination!
And good old Stevie Ballmer? I mean, sure, he might tape a “Kik Me” sign to your back once in a while (Stevie never was very good in spelling), or he might urinate in your coffee as a prank, but Stevie would never do anything “anti-competitive” would he?
Man, can you believe the nerve of some people? Next thing, you’ll tell me that Thomas Jefferson owned slaves or that Isaac Newton was a prick. And then we’ll really be in for a challenge to fisticuffs, I’m afraid.
Pish posh to this lawsuit.
Ray,
IIRC Stacker sued M$ about Doublespace. MS lost ths lawsuit. It was the first major loss in M$’s policy of utilizing technology which was not rightfully theirs.
Still, M$ developed an in house method of doing the same thing “well enough” and it handled virtually all “zipped” files and such while coming “free” as part of the operating system.
Thus Stacker might really have been one of the first companies to be “Netscaped”.
Business As Usual for MS.
Carlo,
Couldn’t have said it any better.
“we believe that Mac users should not purchase Symantec products”
And yet the word “Symantec” in your article contains an advertisement to purchase Symantec PC Anywhere. Like a televangelist, you won’t let your “beliefs” get in the way of making a buck.
Free Speech said, “And I beleive Mac users should not buy Microsoft, Symantec, Creative or Shirt Pocket products either.”
I understand the first three but why Shirt Pocket? I don’t know a lot about the company but I’ve seen good reviews on their software. Care to elaborate?
Ray, ok to use the Tardis, so long as Rose Tyler comes along..