On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 08:32:04 GMT, "altheim"
wrote:


"Dave Neve" wrote:
Hello

I'd like to know what people think about Symantec and McAfee criticising
Microsoft's Vista for having it's own security suite

I'm no fan of Bill Gates and Microsoft but even I sympathise with them on
this one.
[...]

I actually *am* a fan of Bill Gates and Microsoft. I think they
take a lot of unwarranted stick from critics for exploiting valid
business opportunities (that they tend to market buggy software
is another matter for which they do deserve criticism IMO).

As in the anti-trust indictments, which hinged on whether
or not a web browser could be considered part of the operating
system, the question comes down again to whether or not
security measures can be considered part of the operating
system. Personally I think they most indubitably should and
MS should have worked on installing better security decades
ago - not just now. Because they didn't, Symantec saw the gap
in the market and took advantage and, whatever you think of
Norton AV (personally I hate it), you can't blame Symantec for
wanting to protect their business.

However, better late than never. Symantec et al have had their
day and should go. Monopolies like MS are always despised
for their power and wealth but that is the very worst of reasons
for hating them; there are some industries (think of telephones,
railways, gas distribition) in which a monopoly works better by
reason of standardisation. Computers would all work better if
there was only one OS.

And I can almost bet that the one OS (in your mind, at least) would be
OS X, Linux, or Unix. Anything but the Windows OS.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup.
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