Reuters and Slashdot report that Micro$oft is planning to sell its own anti-virus software, competing with the established likes of Symantec and Network Associates (McAfee). Thankfully, they are not planning to bundle it with their operating systems, although that would probably cause anti-trust problems anyway. Still, I think that this could end up being a very bad thing. Given Micro$oft’s spotty (at best) track record of keeping up with security issues, coupled with the fact that any M$ software will be an instant target for hackers, this new product may well serve as a single point of failure rather than a reliable form of protection. Additionally, it will more than likely be sold at a loss in order to gain initial market share (as was done with the XBox), undercutting established vendors that will more than likely offer a better product anyway. Of course, I’m just a little biased… :-p
