Free MSFT Anti-virus: Say goodbye to malware R&D…

Microsoft has announced an initiative to offer free malware protection and anti-virus software to all consumers by the second half of 2009. Several inferences can be made by the recent news. The Microsoft Press Release had two key statements I’d like to focus on:
““Morro” will be available as a stand-alone download and offer malware protection for the Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems.”
and
“Windows Live OneCare will continue to be sold for Windows XP and Windows Vista at retail through June 30, 2009.”

The second statement alludes to the timing of the free offering. Microsoft will continue to support their current contracts and will give it away after people stop paying for the software. The first statement is also key as it shows that they learned from their old browser anti-trust disputes. As a standalone download that is not bundled with the operating system, users continue to have a choice for Anti-malware.

Several questions remain:
• Will their technology work? Will it work well enough to entrust it with Critical Infrastructure?
• How will it be managed in an enterprise environment? How about in a hybrid enterprise environment.
• How will it be updated? Windows Update?
• Will the technology integrate with ICF to protect network-based threats?

At the very minimum, this press release could shrink the overall market cap for endpoint security products in the upcoming years…but only time will tell.

The following is the link to the actual press release.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/nov08/11-18NoCostSecurityP...