“Symantec has accused Microsoft of withholding key information about its upcoming Vista operating system in an attempt to gain an advantage in the security market,” Tom Espiner reports for CNET News.
Espiner reports, “The security specialist said this week that Microsoft is refusing to hand over the application programmable interfaces (APIs) for Windows Defender, the spyware product that will be included in Windows Vista. Without the APIs, Symantec contends that it isn’t able to ensure that its own security products are compatible with the update. ‘Microsoft is affirmatively introducing bottlenecks to funnel customers to their products,’ said John Brigden, Symantec senior vice president for Europe. ‘It’s all about control and dominance. They are deliberately delaying giving us the APIs.'”
“Microsoft responded to Symantec’s concerns on Wednesday, and said that it had made the APIs for Defender available earlier this week. Symantec, though, insists that the APIs still aren’t available,” Espiner reports. “The timing of the release of APIs is crucial for Symantec, as it is due to ship a Vista-compatible Norton antivirus product to PC makers in October.”
“Security vendor McAfee is also irked that Microsoft has not provided APIs for Defender. Sources close to the company confirmed that Microsoft has not provided the APIs, and that senior McAfee executives ‘really have a bee in their bonnets’ about the situation,” Espiner reports. “Symantec and McAfee are battling Microsoft for the ability to replace the Windows Security Center with their own security consoles. Additionally, the security companies also claim the PatchGuard feature in 64-bit editions of Vista excludes them but lets in hackers.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: No way. You mean to tell us that another company is accusing Microsoft of leveraging their Windows monopoly in an underhanded manner that lacks proper business ethics and morals? How ever could this be? Not innovative Microsoft. No.
The dinosaur is trying to eat its parasites and vice versa.
Jobs, life is far too short for this idiocy! Windows is a cancer on personal computing. It needs to be cut out. Plus, it’s ugly and it sucks. Are people stupid or what?! No, really, are they just stupid? How much more evidence do they need to see they’ve made the wrong choice?
If you pay Mafiasoft a yearly subscription fee to protect Mafiasoft Windows, you deserve to use Windows and only Windows for the rest of your natural life. And, while you’re at it, send us US$1,000 via PayPal immediately for full legal ownership of The Brooklyn Bridge which we own and are selling to you, you pigeon, you: webmaster@macdailynews.com
We just can’t imagine having the time, processor cycles and patience to waste. We pity the Windows-only sufferers. We are 100% Microsoft-, Symantec-, and McAfee-free and loving every single minute of it!*
*Of course, we do test various software and operating systems to keep up-to-date. We just don’t bother trying to use them. If we ever find something we like, we’ll let you know.
[UPDATE: 8:05am: Added disclaimer.]
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Symantec details more security holes in Microsoft’s Windows Vista – July 26, 2006
Symantec: Microsoft’s ‘improvements’ to Vista could cause instability, new security flaws – July 18, 2006
Mafiasoft launches Windows protection racket – May 31, 2006
Symantec Antivirus software flaw allows hackers to seize control of PCs without user interaction – May 25, 2006
Symantec sues Microsoft to halt Windows Vista development – May 19, 2006
Microsoft’s Anti-Spyware program deletes Symantec’s Norton Anti-Virus – February 12, 2006
Mafiasoft: Microsoft to charge $50 per year for security service to protect Windows – February 07, 2006
How can we possibly believe that Symantec are telling the truth about this ?
Symantec repeatedly tell downright lies about OS X security issues. How can they be trusted to be telling us the truth about Microsoft ?
Symantec choose to abuse Mac users and Microsoft don’t take Symantec seriously any more, so they’ve made a bad situation worse for themselves.
bruce
Actually the firewall was added to OS X at version 10.2 (August 2002)
“first Vista virus to be discovered. “
The same argument applies. There’s a huge amount of interest in Vista, and hacking Vista, and seeing if Vista is actually more secure. Hackers know it will be wildly popular. There’s still not much interest in hacking Mac OS X.
If that changes Apple will be out there like a babe in the woods.
“Accepting suboptimal solutions “
Many thing that a limited selection of overly expensive hardware, which doesn’t run all available business software, which has been traditionally well behind the PC performance curve is a suboptimal solution. Lets see if that changes now that Macs are the same hardware platform as PCs. After all, no Core2 laptops yet. No $299 Macs yet. No $499 laptop Yet. How long do you want to wait?
Hey, youse guys. Any one of youse tinks youse knows more dan me about da protekshun racket, I’ll make your skull so fulla holes I’ll sell it as a mouth organ. Youse got me?
Now, da guys on da lower east side, dey got a protekshun racket goin’, and it brought in da cash in a steady flow for decades. But now da maker of da software, he’s musclin’ in on da territory with his own proteckshun racket.
So now, da foist guy with da protekshun racket, he’s threatenin’ to call in da feds. It’s fsckin’ incredible how far da mob’s come since da good ol’ days when we fought Ness and his gang of goody two-shoes instead of joining with da feds.
No difference now between us and da feds. Wait’ll I tell Al. If I weren’t dead, he’d kill me outta frustrashun. Ha ha ha ha.
Beryllium, Mac user 47 and God-Reporter…..who is this Jobs fellow?
MW: straight as in Symantec can go straight to hell
meaning,
One thing we catagorically know about Vista without using it: it has already be compromised by viruses.
Buddha,
The one that made you.
from Psalm 139:
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb.
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
MW Really
This must be where the interests of Microshill and the BaBaÇa coincide. Welcome to the past.
“One thing we catagorically know about Vista without using it: it has already be compromised by viruses.”
We know the same about Mac OS X. What’s your point.
“You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. “
I have a little dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it’s dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!
Oh – dreidel, dreidel, dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it’s dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!