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Mary Jo Foley at Microsoft Watch weighed in on Jim Allchin’s statement we mentioned yesterday that Microsoft would not be bundling an antivirus product in Windows Vista. While Allchin’s statement wasn’t particularly surprising, what has been odd is that Microsoft has always been insistent 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.)
And speaking of OneCare, the beta drew some fire yesterday for a security hole it leaves in its firewall component.
February 6th, 2006 at 6:35 PM
[...] After all the furor last week over the versioning of Microsoft’s upcoming antivirus product, Windows OneCare Live, and the effects on current antivirus vendors like Symantec, Joris Evers at CNET has dug up more information: Microsoft plans to release its subscription security program before the summer and to challenge its main rivals on pricing, CNET News.com has learned. … The Redmond, Wash., software giant plans to release the final version of OneCare before summer and to charge about $50 a year for the product, sources familiar with the company’s plans said Monday. The company is scheduled to announce the pricing and availability details later this week, they said. A Microsoft representative had no immediate comment. … Microsoft will sell OneCare purely on a subscription basis–a change from its (”the” is surely meant here - ed.) traditional box-based way of selling security software. Symantec and McAfee sell their boxed security suite products for $69.99, before any rebates, and then charge an annual renewal fee. However, both security incumbents have also been moving to a subscription model. [...]