Microsoft Buys Antivirus Technology

[oracle]

Microsoft Buys Antivirus Technology (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030611/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_antivirus_5)
<font size=1>Wed Jun 11, 8:24 AM ET</font>

By HELEN JUNG, AP Business Writer


SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp., a regular target for software attacks and viruses, is hoping to strike back with a weapon of its own.

Microsoft is acquiring antivirus technology from a Romanian software company and plans to develop its own antivirus product, the software company said Tuesday.

But in stepping into the new market, Microsoft faces direct competition with specialty software security companies to whom Microsoft has long ceded the profitable market.

Microsoft signed an agreement to buy the intellectual property and technology assets of antivirus software and consulting firm GeCAD Software Srl. of Bucharest for an undisclosed amount. Some of the company's software developers will join Microsoft, but details haven't been finalized, said Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Microsoft's security business unit.

Microsoft plans to release its own antivirus product at some unspecified date, but has not decided whether basic antivirus technology will be bundled into its Windows operating system, Nash said.

The company will sell corporate customers and consumers subscriptions for the updated innoculation files that protect against new viruses.

Nash said Microsoft needs to do more to protect its customers from viruses and other malicious programs, in addition to working with security companies, such as Symantec Corp. and Network Associates Inc., which make the most popular antivirus programs for consumers.

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[Rhino]

THIS JUST IN!

MICROSOFT JOINS FIGHT AGAINST VIRUSES.....DISCONTINUES INTERNET EXPLORER AND OUTLOOK!

VIRUS INFECTIONS WORLDWIDE DROP 90%!!!

[Radical-Conservative]

For some reason this scares me lol

[DoctorDoom]

A story I'd much rather see.

WINDOWS XP 2004 UNVEILED, NO LONGER USER FRIENDLY

Redmond -- The Microsoft Corporation today announced that its coming release, Windows XP 2004, would no longer be a point and click operating system. The "user friendly" interface will be removed, and replaced with a DOS-style command line interface that would require computer competence to start and run programs, save data, and do other common computing tasks.

A Microsoft spokesman, who requested to remain anonymous, stated in a rather blunt response to our query, "Microsoft has had it up to here with dipshits with the computer skills of a chimpanzee complaining about security while demanding that Windows do every frigging thing except their laundry and compensate for every damned stupid thing they can do. XP 2004 will separate the buttholes from the competent users."

He also stated that the incidence of viruses and malware would all but vanish once computers were made inaccessible to "clueless f**king morons who couldn't find their asses with both hands and a map."

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, when asked about the comments, did not reply, but his smile indicated that it had his full approval.

The programming departments indicated that the size of the Windows installation package will be reduced 85% with the removal of the "idiotware" that has accumulated over the years in response to the need to address "the stupidity of the users", and that the major fault in every Windows system is "the defective component between the chair and the keyboard".

[nosferatuscoffin]

Being a long, long, long time command line user, I would almost like to see that.

Maybe we would be back to the days of "DOS ain't done until Lotus won't run."

[DoctorDoom]

Lotus. Haven't heard that name in a while, although it's still in business.

The first DOS box I used had 640K of RAM, no HD, and a 5.25" floppy. I ran dBase 4 on it. The output was an HP plotter. To its credit, it DID have a 16-color monitor and BASIC for making purty patterns.

Talk about the Wayback Machine.