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Microsoft's Antispyware Software to Be Free

clayj

clayj

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jan 14, 2005
7,665
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visiting from downstream
Didn't see this anywhere else here... Bill Gates announced that the final release of Microsoft's Antispyware software will, in fact, be offered free of charge.

I hope everyone with Windows will take advantage of this or run a similar product from someone else. Everyone needs to take back control of their computers. :)
 
makes me wonder just how developed this software will end up being then, and what type of updates it will see, will MS continue to advance the tools and usefulness of this software, or will they let it die because the realize they wont be able to make money off of it, but im sure MS just wants people to use their software and ONLY their software for the most part
 
maya said:
This is bad news for all the anti-virus, etc... software developers out there.

Another software venue in the IT age closing down soon and integrated into the OS.
Click to expand...
Just like browsers? ;)

We've yet to see how good MS's AV stuff is.
 
jsw said:
Just like browsers? ;)

We've yet to see how good MS's AV stuff is.
Click to expand...


Seems they have been working on this AV then LongHorn. Maybe they cannot split they efforts. :D


What would be funny is that when its released a few days later there is a backdoor around the AV? :D
 
Not AV software

I'd be more impressed if Bill Gates did something about improving security issues in the various versions of Windows in use today, and gave away free copies of an effective antivirus application to all those who had a reasonable expectation of MS software being competent as a platform for their systems, software and data.

Giving free anti-spyware software is a start (though in tests I'm running on a batch of W2K systems it hasn't given particularly encouraging results so far) but there's a whole busload of malware out there that this software isn't intended to deal with.
 
clayjohanson said:
Didn't see this anywhere else here... Bill Gates announced that the final release of Microsoft's Antispyware software will, in fact, be offered free of charge.

I hope everyone with Windows will take advantage of this or run a similar product from someone else. Everyone needs to take back control of their computers. :)
Click to expand...

And of course, discrimination of Mac users continues. Why is this software not available for Mac? First they discontinue IE for Mac, now this?



:D :D :D :)
 
Software Free, service is not

Microsoft's plans for this software has always been that the actual software will be free, but the service that it links to will be a subscription based service.

Sure you can use the software without the service, but then it will not block the new Spyware products that come out.

This is no secret and has been written about everywhere in the MS world.

Take care,
Quark
 
Quark said:
Microsoft's plans for this software has always been that the actual software will be free, but the service that it links to will be a subscription based service.

Sure you can use the software without the service, but then it will not block the new Spyware products that come out.

This is no secret and has been written about everywhere in the MS world.

Take care,
Quark
Click to expand...

i hadn't heard about that, interesting, just like how billy wanted people to start paying for "stamps" for emails. id rather deal with the junk personally, and i doubt people would subscribe for long, unless it was 99% effective, there are other alternatives
 
Quark said:
Microsoft's plans for this software has always been that the actual software will be free, but the service that it links to will be a subscription based service.

Sure you can use the software without the service, but then it will not block the new Spyware products that come out.

This is no secret and has been written about everywhere in the MS world.

Take care,
Quark
Click to expand...
Do you work for Microsoft? Did Microsoft actually SAY they were going to charge for this service? If so, please provide links. Random speculation by third parties hardly qualifies as evidence that they plan to charge for this. He said it would be free, and I have no reason to doubt him (i.e., I am not a Microsoft hater or a Bill Gates hater).
 
Is this a new program or just the same spyware tool that has been available since Jan?? I have gotten two updates on my PC that say Spyware Removal Tool and they always have a month attached to them. So far it has been Jan and Feb. They download and don't seem to do anything. I have never gotten a window saying it is running or that it found anything if it just runs in the background. Of course, I run seveal programs weekly on my PC, AdAware, Spybot, etc. I do like that link about the program removing IE though, that would be the best thing M$ has ever done.
 
Let me elaborate... a little...

clayjohanson said:
Do you work for Microsoft? Did Microsoft actually SAY they were going to charge for this service? If so, please provide links. Random speculation by third parties hardly qualifies as evidence that they plan to charge for this. He said it would be free, and I have no reason to doubt him (i.e., I am not a Microsoft hater or a Bill Gates hater).
Click to expand...

No, I don't work for Microsoft. Perhaps the word "written" was a poor word choice. It is more accurate to say "talked" about in the MS world.

Let me clarify the subscription. The software can be loaded onto a Windows machine and run. You can "choose" to subscribe to a service that contains information about the latest "spyware" programs. If you find some "spyware" that is not currently stored in the service database, you can have the program automatically send the information to the service. People will then review this program, and if it is determined to be legitimate "spyware", it will be added to the "spyware" database.

Currently this "community"/service is free for the BETA. It will become a paid subscription based service. Someone has to pay for the ongoing work for this service. A one-time cost for the OS will not cover something like this that has no end cycle date. It is ongoing.

MS will also use this as a "backdoor" to:
A) potentially catch some people with invalid OS installations and in future OS updates, some of these systems will stop working. It is being debated whether these people should be given a warning and an option to purchase/legitimize their OS or not.
B) track additional information about who/what/when/where MS products are being used. Currently most of this information is for marketing and drives the development of their existing products. Including Windows Media Player, OS, development environments (.NET), and Office.

While I do not work for Microsoft, I have to develop products that compete directly with their products on another platform, and potentially on their platform and/or hardware that currently has MS OS as the primary OS and study/analyze everything they produce.

Apple is aware and alert. This is a good thing and will further deepen the hole that MS is digging for itself.

Take Care,
Quark
 
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