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Paula Rooney and Barbara Darrow interviewed Jim Allchin last week for Computer Reseller News and he had this revelation:
CRN: Is there going to be antivirus in Vista?
Allchin: No, there is not.
CRN: Why?
Allchin: It’s a complicated answer as to why not.
CRN: Was the decision based on technical concerns?
Allchin: It wasn’t technical.
OneCare, Microsoft’s antivirus (and more) product for Windows XP is in beta and prominently states that it will not be compatible with Vista when it is released, which has lead to a variety of speculation. Even its current availability as a well regarded and free beta has significance for antivirus software vendors, let alone the possibility that it might be bundled with the operating system. The likely reason for not including it in Vista is almost certainly the fear of upsetting longtime time security software partners and/or arousing the ire of antitrust authorities.
John Leyden at The Register, who spotted the relevant part of the Allchin interview, points out that the European Commission had contacted Symantec last October on this issue, although Symantec says that they did not complain to the commission, but that the commission contacted them. However, according to Symantec’s spokesman:
“We have always said, and continue to say, that we’ll continue to compete with Microsoft in the market as long as there’s a level playing field.”
Bundling an antivirus product in the operating system doesn’t seem like it would qualify.
Update: Speaking of Symantec:
Symantec expects to begin offering a new consumer security service similar to Microsoft’s Windows OneCare Live by September of this year, a company executive said Monday. Code-named “Genesis,” the service will integrate components of Symantec’s security, PC tuning, and backup software into a single service that is accessible over the Internet.
February 1st, 2006 at 12:10 PM
[...] Mary Jo Foley at Microsoft Watch weighs in on Jim Allchin’s statement we mentioned yesterday that Microsoft would not be bundling an antivirus product in Windows Vista. While that wasn’t particularly surprising, what has always been odd was that Microsoft had stated that its OneCare antivirus product (currently in beta) would never run on Vista. Apparently Foley’s article stuck a nerve, because: (Update: Microsoft officials told us after this article was published that Microsoft will do a version of OneCare for Vista users “in the future.” A spokeswoman provided no further details on timing or features.) Filed under OS – Client, Windows Vista, OneCare Listen to this article [Permalink] [...]
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:16 PM
[...] On Tuesday, I mentioned that Symantec had apparently felt the cold wind of OneCare and was planning to combat it with their own security service called Genesis. That got more urgent after Tuesday’s quarterly earnings release: Symantec Corp.’s stock sank just under 7% Wednesday as investors expressed disappointment with the security and storage software firm’s quarterly revenue and outlook. [...]
February 17th, 2006 at 10:05 PM
[...] There’s no word on how much Microsoft is going to charge (if anything) for Windows Live Family Safety Settings or Vista’s Windows Family Safety, but the 800 pound gorilla just showed up and it doesn’t look good for the little players, particularly with the Vista bundling. If the antitrust regulators are getting antsy over OneCare, they ought to get pretty excited over this one. Filed under OS – Client, Windows Vista, Legal, Governmental Relations, General Business, Antitrust, Windows Live, Windows Live Family Safety Settings Listen to this article [Permalink] [...]