January 6th, 2005
Microsoft security portfolio rolls. Should A/V vendors duck?
Today, Microsoft announced the consolidation of its anti-virus
utilities into one downloadable solution that will get periodically
updated as well as the beta version of an anti-spyware product based on
the company’s completed acquisition of Giant in December 2004. In ZDNet’s first ever podcast,
Gytis Barzdukas, a director of product management in Microsoft’s
Security Business and Technology Unit, explains the announcements and discusses how Microsoft
gingerly toes the line of including improved security in Windows
without being too threatening to the vendors (ie: anti-virus,
anti-spyware, anti-spam, anti-phishing) that thrive on the constant
attacks faced by users of the desktop operating system. Barzdukas says there’s plenty of room for third party security companies to thrive. But are those players reading the writing on the wall differently? After all, Symantec’s acquisition of Veritas is more about diversification than anything else (a subject that Barzdukas declined to comment on). Is the expansion of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Initiative reflected in the industry’s changing structure? You be the judge.
