Norton enters the space race. No, really!

By Davey Winder
Tuesday, 07 October 2008 17:34

Science - Space

We know that competition in the security software market is intense, and marketing can make all the difference. But usually promotional tools run to the chance to win a free copy of the latest software, or maybe a PC to run it on. Symantec, however, is offering to send someone into space...

Symantec is on something of a publicity push at the moment, having just launched the latest version of the Norton Internet Security suite which, as we reported, actually shakes up the consumer security market pretty soundly.

Indeed, it seems good enough that one might think it does not need to big stick approach to marketing at all, rather just letting the software speak for itself should be sufficient.

Well, yes, but this is Norton that we are talking about and that means a product line that comes with some serious baggage in the way of user perceptions. Which is why Symantec probably feels it has to go that extra mile.

Or maybe that extra 62 miles.

Yes, file under incredible but true: Symantec has just announced the opening of a free to enter, totally without obligation to try or buy anything, competition which offers one lucky bugger that chance to go into space.

The first prize winner of the draw, entry to which ends on the 1st December, will go on a zero-gravity experience flight where they can 'float, flip and fly' as they experience weightlessness.

But one winner, drawn from all those regional winners, will get the grand prize. And for once it is deserving of the 'grand' title: a suborbital spaceflight. "Fewer than 500 people have been to space, but one lucky winner will join this exclusive club courtesy of Symantec" a spokesperson told us.

The sub-orbital flight involves rocket engines boosting you beyond the normal limits of flight to regions above 62 miles where space begins. After the engines shutdown, you can experience up to five minutes of continuous weightlessness while gazing at the blue horizon of the Earth below.

And who said the IT security was boring? Oh, you can enter the draw here. Finalists will be announced in January 2009 and the winner of the suborbital flight will be announced in February 2009.