“How would you feel if you were selling flu shots that the clinic around the corner was giving away? In a move that is sure to ruffle the feathers on a pair of software companies, Microsoft is rolling out free programs to battle spyware and pesky computer viruses,” Rick Aristotle Munarriz writes for The Motley Fool.
“While the company claims that the antivirus software will simply enhance existing premium products by McAfee and Symantec in order to provide a more pristine computing experience, let’s not be naive. That’s how the dance starts,” Munarriz writes. “Sure, for every Netscape browser or rival operating system that Microsoft has all but squashed you have cases like RealNetworks, where Mr. Softy has conceded to co-exist. Microsoft isn’t always a tyrant. Its Xbox video game console still trails the Sony PlayStation format by a wide margin,” Munarriz writes.
MacDailyNews Take: Failure doesn’t disqualify Microsoft from tyrant status. Also there are 25 million Mac users out here who feel anything but “squashed” by Microsoft.
“Ultimately the irony would run thick if Microsoft does manage to make a splash in the antivirus space. Not only is its operating system more susceptible to virtual misdeeds than Apple’s, but now it finds ways to profit from those deficiencies,” Munarriz writes. “Ouch. That inoculation needle hurts!”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We said it before and mean it even more today: There’s a tried and true name for people that will pay Microsoft for Windows and then pay them extra for some promise of protection: “suckers.” Hate to break it to you this way, but if you’re that stupid, you deserve to use Windows, and only Windows, for the rest of your life.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Microsoft may charge extra for Windows spyware protection software – December 16, 2004
This is just so amazing to me. It really brings home the meaning of the phrase “Truth is stranger than fiction”
First Post
Microsoft is the perfect example of legal organized crime.
Whoa there MacDailyNews. I agree that MS are a shameless corporate money-making behemoth (that happens to make some pretty mediocre software). But don’t forget you attract more flies with sugar than with vinegar.
A lot of people out there really don’t understand that “OS X” is a different thing than Windows. They just think there are different kinds of computers (Dell, HP, Apple, Micron, etc.). OS is a foreign concept to them.
All the Windows users out there need more help from great resources like MacDailyNews helping them understand that Apple isn’t just a different brand of computer, it’s a better brand of computing experience. One that is free of spyware, and adware, and viruses, and crashes, and BSODs, etc.
So please keep preaching the “Apple = No Spyware/Virus/BS” gospel. And make sure everyone knows they can use Office and Internet Explorer on their Apple computer AND not have to worry about their system being hijacked by Porn, Pop-ups, and weird startup pages. They often want to know that their printer and digital camera work too.
After all, that’s really all most people care about. The computer is a just a thing to use. And an Apple is just another computer unless you really differentiate it from the crowd. And please – no it’s not an Apple it’s a Mac nonsense. I know this, you know this. 99% of the world will never know this or care. To them it’s an Apple.
So again, Apple = Office + Internet Explorer + Printer + Camera and NO VIRUS, NO SPYWARE crap. This is what people need to know.
At least that’s my two cents.
Even if MS does suck, the xbox is an awesome gaming platform and the next version is looking quite promising. Sony is certainly not a better citizen than MS.
In other news check out this article: http://www.gamerah.com/noticias.php?bias=180#180
Very interesting, Nintendo founder tells Steve Ballmer what he can put in his mouth…(face to face no less)
I think MDN is slipping into inmaturity.
“There’s a tried and true name for people that will pay Microsoft for Windows and then pay them extra for some promise of protection: “suckers.” Hate to break it to you this way, but if you’re that stupid, you deserve to use Windows, and only Windows, for the rest of your life.”
Isnt Freedom of speach great…?
FSCK YOU!! MDN. You know what you can EAT.
(Brought to you by the lovely word “twenty”)
Your take pretty much says it all…
This is MS admitting that Windows security is broken beyond repair.
Of course, that’s not the spin their PRs put on it.
So let me get this traight.
MS makes an operating system full of holes spy/adware can sneak through and then they want credit for creating a seperate program that is supposed to stop this.
An application that windows users for years had to pay third party providers for.
What I think MS should do is refund money to everyone that has paid for spyware removers / protectors instead.
And you know what is going to happen. In 6 months or a year MS will start charging for this software because ‘it is a very sofisticated piece of software’.
Gotta love MS. THey know how to make a billion or 50.
Yeah freedom of SPEECH (not speach) is great. How’s this for freedom of speech…F*ck you Douche Bag! Go hang out on the Dell geek boards and get the hell out of here.
Now I know that Microsoft REALLY is a innovative company. Their innovation is the ability to profit off their incompetency. Yes, that is innovation.
MDN is right. Would you buy a car with recurring transmission problems? Only if you were an idiot.
Let me guess AnotherMacDouchBag, you just bought a Windows system?
AnotherMacDouchBag:
And with the potty mouth you displayed it is safe to safe to say that you never left immaturity (notice that it’s spelled with two m’s).
I agree, however, that name calling is unwarranted and telling Windows users that they are suckers will drive them away, not win them over.
I have to agree with RC. That kind of talk isn’t exactly mature especially when MDN has the true facts. I really can’t see how an extra antivirus program is going to help there situation. What I see happening is confllicts between Microsofts helper program and the other premium antivirus software. It looks like a potion for blue screens if you ask me.
System slow downs could also happen as the two antivirus programs scan.
Oh and there’s no way I would trust a PC protected only with Microsofts version of antivirus software. There record on security is lacking severely.
THIS JUST IN!!!
Critical vulnerabilities have been uncovered in Microsoft’s new anti-virus and anti-spyware software, making PCs running the Windows operating system more vulnerable to malicious attack than ever before.
It goes on to say something about Remote Procedure Calls….
BSOD where did you read that?
MilwaukeeMacOPhile is one hundred percent correct… I would guess 80% or more do not have any idea what an OS is. Even people Who I have converted to the Mac platform occasionally call me asking about Spyware, Virus problems that friends tell them about. When they tell
them they have a Mac and were told these things don�t affect them. PC folks tell them they are wrong. It affects ALL computers.
I then must reassure them again.
What a total scam!! Auto manufactures are forced to recall and fix defective products for free, but Microsoft gets to CHARGE their customers to fix their own, built-in, design flaws!!!
According to CNN, Microsoft may start charging people for this “security” starting in July…
“Microsoft disclosed last month that it planned to offer software to remove spyware programs that are secretly running on computers. But in a shift from past practice, Microsoft said it may charge consumers for future versions of the new protective technology, which Microsoft acquired by buying a small New York software firm.
Kaplan said the free version of Microsoft’s new spyware-removal software will expire July 31 and pricing for future versions is still undecided. Rival anti-spyware tools, such as Lavasoft Inc.’s popular Ad-Aware product, offer similar functions to Microsoft’s, and many are free.”
[ http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/01/06/microsoft.antivrus.ap/index.html ]
This, now, makes it more apparent that Microsoft is much more worried about their customer’s mounting frustrations and potential switch to Apple, with their desire in supporting 3rd-party fix-it companies having a much lower priority.
It also seems that Microsoft does not have a way to actually FIX these OS flaws, and now seems desperate to avoid a total rewrite of their OS. Such a move could make ALL of the Windows-based software obsolete.
Was that a flushing sound I heard?
Now, is a good time to buy more Apple stock.
Apple is UP 2.3% so far today!!
At http://quotes.nasdaq.com/, compare AAPL and MSFT, then look at the comparison charts.
john: it’s a joke.
“For a population that struggles to programme a video recorder, expecting people to regularly visit Microsoft’s web site to download all the latest service packs and security updates is living in dreamland.”
From http://www.pcdownloadworld.com/news/free-virus-software/1682.htm …
— [start quote] —
PRODUCT RECALL NOTICE: Anybody buying a personal computer in the last three years should immediately return their purchase to the point of sale for repair. A serious flaw means your system is unsafe and the security of your personal information is at risk.
That is an advert you will never see in a national newspaper. If a kettle develops a problem that makes it unsafe, the manufacturer will recall the product and pull out all the stops to resolve the fault. If a car has a design fault, Ford aren’t going to say – ‘go to your nearest dealer, pick up a new part, and fit it yourself.’ But for home PC users, that’s just what they are expected to do.
[continued]
For a population that struggles to programme a video recorder, expecting people to regularly visit Microsoft’s web site to download all the latest service packs and security updates is living in dreamland. If Microsoft – and every other software company that sells to home users – want to avoid alienating the non-PC literate majority and damaging trust in computers and the internet, they need to find a much better way of dealing with the problem of bug fixes. It’s just not good enough to simply say: we’ve done all we can, if you don’t download the fix, it’s your problem. As the growth of viruses and spam continues, this approach will do serious damage to the IT industry as a whole.
— [end quote] —
Easy_Now, do you know what day Mexican “April Fools” is?
http://www.vallartaonline.com/events/DayoftheInnocents/
Microsoft Anti-Virus is an oxymoron. This should be welcome news the the malware “industry.”
How long before MS sells ‘anti-virus’ software (or updates) to fix the holes in their anti-virus software.
I’m not kidding.
Look at it this way….
Television used to be free. (just buy the tube & plug in.)
Then came commercials (a painless free disturbance)
Then came cable ($8/month)
Then came cable box rental ($5/month)
Now cable costs $60/month
Then came satellite dishes.. up to $129/month
Then came TiVo (another $6.99/month)
So now we have people spending up to $100+ per month on television to watch a commercial which cost somebody else a million bucks to send to you? (you pay money to be annoyed by commercials)
This sounds highly insane to me, but there are billions of citizens who do this worldwide.
You think people are going to pay a Criminal to protect them from other criminals? YOU BETCHA!!!
Yea what webmaster apprentice said.
First you had cable tv (with heaps of ads too – what gives?)
Now we have rented music… we pay and pay some more for things which previously had been free (on the radio for example.) Or you can pay for digital satellite broadcasts.
How much longer before say newspaper websites en masse start charging for reading current articles and not just archived ones? No way then to read over someone’s shoulder on the train or find a left over paper on a seat to read eh? (if you want to be scummy and not buy it). Don’t bet on them charging much less for the digital version compared to the printed version either.
Nah, this captialist world sucks.
Oh, and I left out water (yea, plain old water) in a bottle being sold for a couple of bucks. What a scam.