Discussion on:

Microsoft security tries to compete with the big dogs

Microsoft has set up security response and research operations in Ireland and Japan and offered a preview of its new online security service, but it still has a long way to go to catch up to rivals Symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro. Exactly how long it will take before Microsoft's security products can truly compete in the security industry is debatable.



What's your security forecast for Microsoft?

especially given the IE7/Vista vulnerability that they knew about for months before it was exploited.

They should concentrate on making their OS more secure, put the other guys out of business, open their own security devision to protect their OS, then intentionally create vulnerabilities, then only people with their security software will be safe...

i think it will take them long enough for them to realise they are not that good.

leave it to Symantec MS!!!

My opinion, leave security to the security specialists.

Isn't that kind of like McDonald's trying to open weight loss centers?

Your analogy cannot be any further from the truth.

My mother was just telling me this morning that Weight Watchers has a menu for McDonalds so that you could eat there for every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and still fit in your required "points." So, your analogy might not be that far out!

Please give me a water with that, I'm trying to watch my weight.

Sorry. To be truthfull, I should check the wieght watchers diet. Bloody get a woman that loves me, and I put on bloody 20 pounds in 1 year. Soon you will be greasing this fat boy to get him through the door.

Dan

If computers were run according to the original design then there would be no security problem.Remember Microsoft still has an EU problem.

;o)

Instead of trying to increase their share of the security software market, they ought to be trying to render that business sector obsolete. They're selling an insecure operating system and then trying to sell more software to secure it? For this reason, I wouldn't buy their product no matter how good or inexpensive it is. Talk about improperly using your resources.

Ok a lot of People think this is Good Business
Create a market
Then supply to that market

I don't but that is only my opinion

Lets ask the add men
or is that amen

they have to concentrate on a secure OS. this is what will really make them good. or alternatively, let the consentrate on OS and leave it to Symantec and other security software developers to shelled their OS.

specialisation has always proven to be the best

TAM

That's the simple answer. From the business perspective, it's better to dominate a new market with your own product rather than cut that market out. Why cut out the security market when you can sell both the OS and the security tools. The extreme example would be; why cure cancer when you can sell the an ongoing perscription. There must be a few business text books that say; "Create a new market and dominate it."

From the end user perspective, doing security right and modularizing the OS more would be the better way to go. Reduce the need for system overhead while allowing the system to conform more to it's indavidual needs. osX is ahead of Windows in that regard with the additional polish and marketing needed to be recognized as a contender.

Fixing security and going so modular means changing the way Windows is designed and cutting out a second revenue stream. It would also be lowering barriers of entry for competition to the "features" they've already pushed out of the market so that won't happen. For now we'll have to make do with the briding OS that is Vista until we see what it's going to transition us all too (a la winME style so far).

Someone help me understand why Microsoft doesn't acquire Symantec, McAfee, or Trend Micro. That's how they eliminated competitors in the past. What prevents them from doing so now? Pride? Fear of more anti-trust ire? What?

I honestly think it is one of Microsoft's intentions to eliminate or significantly reduce the size of the IT security sector - specifically the huge sector that thrives off of MS product vulnerabilities. However, Microsoft knows that to do it right means starting from scratch with Windows. That is a huge undertaking. It requires fewer resources to continually patch and add more bells and whistles to their existing code. Vista was supposed to be revolutionary. Instead, they (yet again) applied lipstick to a sloppy, over-bloated pig - 2.5GB and 50 million lines of code!!! Exponential security-bug potential. Starting from scratch should be a very serious intention for Microsoft. MS...give us a secure OS that installs in less than 30 minutes!

Was that
God I keep loseing track
How many are there now
That show's that vista need's more from its hardware
Vista = bigger harddrive = New computer for some poor MS customers
Only the dumb buggers who listen to sales reps and windows blockheads anyway
And to the many windows blockheads don't answer this post
I won't answer I don't talk to boneheads or blockheads

Edited

Message was edited by: beth.blakely@...

Sounds more like a screen door on a submarine. There are things that one should just not embrace.

I use a variety of tools to ensure that my Microsoft machines are secure. None of them come from Microsoft. It is a good bet that none ever will. I want security on my machine, not eye candy.