MS OneCare: paying for protection
p2pnet.net News:- ?The Vole [Microsoft] is to take Symantec and other anti virus vendors head on by offering a subscription service to protect its users from spyware, from viruses and to firewall PCs.?
That?s The Inquirer?s take of Microsoft?s announcement that Bill and the Boyz want to charge people a subscription fee for the privilege of using their OneCare auto protect PCs.
?Microsoft Corp. is rolling out a test version of an all-in-one subscription service that will give computer users automated security updates, back up their files and run tuneups to make machines speedier,? says Business Week. ?The Redmond-based software company is distributing Windows OneCare to its 60,000 employees this week. It plans to run a larger invitation-only test this summer, then launch a full-scale test by year’s end.
When will One Car be available for those who want it?
Who knows? But, “We’re going to take our time,? Ryan Hamlin, general manager for Microsoft’s technology, care and safety team, is quoted as saying. ?We want to make sure we get this right the first time.?
But as The Inquirer puts it, ?While Symantec, Trend and others are bound to be highly miffed by the move, it’s a little steep that Microsoft will charge to plug holes its operating systems have itself [sic] created.?
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See:-
The Inquirer – Microsoft to charge for security service, May 13, 2005
Business Week – Microsoft to test PC tuneup service May 13, 2005
May 13th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
hmmm…isn’t “paying for protection” something The Sopranos might do?
sounds a little bit “cosa nostra” to me.
May 14th, 2005 at 12:14 am
“Microsoft will charge to plug holes its operating systems have itself [sic] created”
Perhaps they should call it “MS BlackHandCare”.
I’m sure MS would charge for security updates right now if they thought they could get away with it. Come to think of it, that’s basically what they are doing with BlackHandCare…
May 15th, 2005 at 9:44 pm
Other news sites have been reporting that microshaft … intends …well … to shaft people by moving from a one time licensing fee to a subscription based model. Yipee!!!
“But the company says most users don’t take full advantage of those products.”
And why should they? Considering the amount of time I must spend plugging up the security breaches that microcrap refuses to fix problems they themselves created (some high risk vulnerabilities still haven’t been fixed YEARS later) why would I trust IE to protect me from virii, trojans, activeX and other malicious code when browsing the net? Why should I trust microcraps “firewall” when it wasn’t monitoring outgoing connections? Why should I when microsuck makes the default admin account on XP brute force attackable and makes it impossible to get the fix for free on its site? How is buying more companies and charging more fees actually going to fix problems in the operating system when they don’t bother dealing with those first?
hmm … think its finally time to switch to Linux