Watch Out McAfee and Symantec – Microsoft to Offer Free Antivirus Software
The ever targeted and much maligned OS, Windows, just got what I consider a surprising shot in the arm – for free! Microsoft, via Routers, let it slip that they are taking Symantec and McAfee head on with a free Antivirus package.
Microsoft Corpis getting ready to unveil a long-anticipated free anti-virus service for personal computers that will compete with products sold by Symantec Corp and McAfee Inc.
A Microsoft spokesman said on Wednesday that the world’s biggest software maker is testing an early version of the product with its own employees. Microsoft would “soon” make a trial version, or product beta, available via its website, he added, but declined to provide a specific date.
[...] Investors are closely monitoring the free service, code-named Morro after Brazil’s Morro de Sao Paolo beach, amid concern it could hurt sales of products from Symantec and McAfee, which generate billions of dollars of revenue a year protecting Windows PCs from attacks by hackers.
For consumers, I say this is a win. For Antivirus companies, I say this is litigation.
