No anti-virus needed for Vista - if you're seven

Stan Beer
Saturday, 11 November 2006 12:51

Your IT - Home IT

Microsoft has a penchant for making money by copying Apple. They did it with the mouse driven Mac OS copy, Windows 95. They're trying to do it with the iPod copy, Zune. Now they're trying to claim, like many Mac users, that Vista may not need anti-virus software.

The argument continues to rage about whether the Mac needs anti-virus software. However, at least Mac users can correctly claim that there hasn't been a major virus outbreak as yet. Microsoft users can make no such claim up to this point. Jim Allchin, co-president of Windows at Microsoft aims to change that with Vista.

According to Allchin, his seven year old son runs Vista with any anti-virus and everything is hunky dory. And, as experts have pointed out, 
it would be if, as is the case with Allchin's son, everything is locked down to the point where nothing can be downloaded.

However, as experts have also pointed out, which PC users in the real world operate like that? Maybe seven year olds under strict parental control, but not every day adult users.

The fact is that Microsoft has moved into the anti-virus software business, much to the chagrin of Symantec and McAfee. Are we to believe that Microsoft has just entered a business that its own operating system has made redundant? I don't think so.

As we have seen from the past few Patch Tuesday monthly patching cycles, vulnerabilities have been identified in pre-release versions of Vista as well as existing versions of Windows. Are we to believe that no further vulnerabilities in Vista will be identified? Not likely.

The fact is that now Windows with Vista has followed the example of Linux, Mac OSX, Solaris and other Unix variations, which have permission based security systems in place, it is likely to be a more difficult nut to crack for hackers. However, it will be cracked and Microsoft knows this which is why it is now in the security software business.