Microsoft yields further to McAfee, Symantec pressure

Stan Beer
Thursday, 19 October 2006 10:01

Your IT - Home IT

After searing public accusations of only paying lip service to its promise to cooperate with the two leading security vendors so that they can develop competing products for Windows Vista, Microsoft has agreed to brief both companies further. According to a Reuters report a special briefing between Microsoft and the two vendors is to take place online today.

Symantec and McAfee, the two largest security vendors in the world want Microsoft to show them how to disable its Windows Security Center dashboard when users install their competing  products. They also want to be able to gain access to the 64-bit Vista kernel which Microsoft has locked up with its Patchguard utility.

Both McAfee's worldwide corporate communications president Siobhan MacDermott and his counterpart at Symantec Chris Paden have been on the war path in Europe, where regulators are not symathetic to Microsoft, lobbying support for their cause.

Yesterday MacDermott said that McAfee had still not received any information from Microsoft concerning Patchguard and the document containing the SDK that Microsoft sent McAfee for Windows Security Center required clarification, which had not been forthcoming despite repeated requests.

Both vendors want a specific timeline for the delivery of the information they require.

Whatever happens, however, it appears unlikely that the two security vendors will be able to bring their full suite of Vista products to market before Microsoft's scheduled release of Vista to business users in November. The effects of this are questionable as most businesses are not likely to upgrade to Vista in the immediate short term.