November 19, 2008 by William Peebles
Microsoft will protect your PC for free. The computer giant has pledged to offer free software to PC users to help protect them from the various viruses to which PCs are vulnerable. The software is ‘code-named’ Morro and will be available during the second half of next year.
The idea is to convince more computer users to protect their systems from the wide range of ‘malware’ out there, including viruses and spyware. Currently use of anti-virus software amongst computer users is a long, long way from 100%, which goes some way to simply perpetuating the problem.
To say the least, this decision has presented a new challenge for commercial makers of ant-virus software such as Symantec and McAfee, who will have to find a way to compete with someone offering a service similar to theirs for free.
It’s also not hard to see a situation where the Microsoft programme enjoys something close to a monopoly. The worry in this situation would be that the positive benefits of competition, currently in place in the field of anti-virus software would be lost. This could be particularly destructive since making these programmes requires huge commitment with hackers working constantly to undermine and get around anti-virus software with new ‘malware.’
It’ll be interesting to see the reaction from users and the industry when ‘Morro’ becomes available next year.
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