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Jupiter Research’s Joe Wilcox points to a blog posting by Alex Eckelberry of security software vendor Sunbelt Software that crunches the numbers for Microsoft’s Windows Live OneCare and Antigen enterprise security products and concludes that Microsoft practices predatory pricing:
I don’t often write pieces lambasting Microsoft. I have close friends who work for the company (incidentally, some of the brightest people I know), my company is a Gold Partner and we’re also in business with Microsoft. And, I am one of those who believe that the computing world has actually been made a better place by Microsoft.My beef is never with the people. My beef is with a number of strategic decisions that have been made by the company that should scare a lot of people. So please, to my friends at Microsoft, don’t take this personally. This stuff just needs to be said.
It’s bad enough that Microsoft is getting in to all aspects of security. But now they are going to kill their competition through predatory pricing.
Hit the link for the calculations, but for Windows Live OneCare, his conclusion is that it is “almost 50% below the market leader, and no one has said a peep.” That seems somewhat overheated since the OneCare MSRP of $49.95 for three machines is easily its most notable aspect and has received quite a bit of comment here and and quite a few other places. It’s also overshadowed by the oddities of the delivery mechanism for consumer security products which generally appear as a trial offers preinstalled on new PCs and based on adoption statistics, seem to be mostly ignored.
More telling is his analysis of the pricing for Microsoft’s Antigen enterprise security products:
Now, let’s move to the enterprise side, specifically virus protection for Microsoft Exchange. Remember that enterprise sales are the bread and butter of companies like Symantec and Trend. This is where the money is made.Examine the latest pricing for Microsoft Antigen, the old Sybari product re-branded under Microsoft’s new Foreforont line of security products.
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As we can see here, Microsoft has priced themselves over 60% less than Symantec, an astonishing difference in price. Microsoft has effectively low-balled the entire antivirus industry in one fell swoop. And their product includes five antivirus engines, not just one.
There’s much more there, but here’s a closing thought:
What should be disturbing about of this all is that we very well might see Microsoft owning a majority in the security space. Despite what their PR flacks tell us, they are hell-bent on getting your business. Look at the Forefront website for yourself. These people mean business. Maybe I’m jaded, as I’ve spent most of my career working for companies that got pummeled by Microsoft (Borland, Quarterdeck, etc.).Stifling innovation? You bet. What venture capitalist will invest in the next great security idea or product? What entrepreneur will start a new company in the security space, given the risks of competing with Microsoft?
And it’s not just startups. For example, after Microsoft announced the acquisition of Giant Company, a senior executive at a major security company told me that they weren’t going to bother coming out with antispyware functionality, since Microsoft had already made that product free. While that company has since changed their mind, it was a chilling conversation.
As I’ve mentioned before in regards to Windows Defender (antispyware), Windows Live Safety Settings, and application transfer applications, there’s no more predatory pricing than free and I can’t help but believe that Microsoft’s heading for another confrontation with antitrust regulators around the world.
I watched the Webcast of yesterday’s TechEd 2006 keynote and offer the modest suggestion that it would be rather better for Microsoft to take it easy on the soporific “People-Ready Business vision” marketing boilerplate and cut to the technical content. To that end, here’s the raw meat:
Security (more details here)
- Antigen e-mail security products announced last week
- Internet Security & Acceleration Server 2006 launched
- Microsoft Forefront announced as new brand for enterprise security products including the next generation of Antigen products. “The Forefront line will include Forefront Client Security (formerly called Microsoft Client Protection), a solution delivering unified malware protection for business desktops, laptops and server operating systems. An early beta version has been made available to select customers, and a public beta is planned for the fourth quarter of 2006.”
Microsoft Application Platform
- A Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the forthcoming SQL Server Everywhere client database was announced – download it here.
- Community Technology Preview of Visual Studio® Team Edition for Database Professionals announced – download it here.
- BizTalk® Server 2006 R2 was revealed last week and there was also mention of a “BizTalk Adapter Pack, a set of application adapters to enable customers to surface line-of-business data directly into familiar interfaces such as Microsoft Office or any client using Web services”.
Exchange (more details here)
- Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 Announced – available for testing by the end of July
- “Microsoft also disclosed new mobile features and functionality in Exchange Server 2007, including support for search on a device, improved meeting request handling, support for HTML e-mail, message flagging and self-service remote device wipe. The upcoming availability of Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 is a key step forward to general availability for late 2006 or early 2007.”
Compute Cluster
- Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 released last week
System Center Operations Manager
- Beta of System Center Operations Manager 2007 now publicly available here.
Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta)
- Microsoft Dynamics™ AX version 4.0 launched – details here
There’s likely more to come, but it’s certainly a mixed bag of products.
Obtained in the acquisition of Sybari, Microsoft’s Antigen family of enterprise security products had been anticipated since last October and are now ready to ship. Press release:
Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of Microsoft® Antigen e-mail security products — including Antigen for Exchange, Antigen for SMTP Gateways, Antigen Spam Manager and Antigen Enterprise Manager — available to customers July 1, 2006. This milestone marks the first Microsoft-branded release of the enterprise anti-virus and anti-spam products acquired in the 2005 acquisition of Sybari Software Inc.Microsoft Antigen e-mail security products use multiple scan engines to help provide comprehensive protection from viruses, spam and other security threats. In addition to scan engines from industry-leading security companies AhnLab Inc., Authentium Inc., CA Inc., Kaspersky Lab, MailFilters.com Inc., Norman Data Defense Systems Inc., Sophos Plc and VirusBuster Ltd., all Microsoft Antigen e-mail security products now include the new Microsoft anti-virus engine.
Also announced were Antigen Messaging Security Suite (includes Antigen for Exchange, Antigen for SMTP Gateways and Antigen Spam Manager) and Antigen Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005. Promised for the future were “Antigen for SharePoint and Antigen for Instant Messaging, which will remain Sybari-branded products until the next versions, which are targeted for release in the first half of 2007.”
Per the Associated Press:
Trend Micro Inc., a maker of antivirus and network security software, said on Monday it received an extension on a 2004 contract with Microsoft Corp. to provide antivirus scanning and cleaning services to 230 million MSN Hotmail e-mail accounts.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; nor did the company say for how long the contract had been extended.
Apparently the Microsoft server antivirus products (Microsoft Client Protection, Antigen) don’t apply, aren’t ready yet, or can’t handle the considerable Hotmail load.
