Navaho Gunleg

Just read an article which states Microsoft’s new AV ‘service’ will cost about 50 dollars per year.

Knowing Microsoft’s track-record regarding ‘security software’ and their carefully constructed End-User Licence Agreements, I find it highly probable that it ain’t worth a fucking dime.

Yeh yeh — I know they’ll say they’ll use that money to make more secure software. Well they can’t hardly make mistakes there now can they? In the end — it is more secure that any earlier version — cause it’s always been crap!

But I bet that money is going directly into the development of more Digital Restriction Management implementations and other ways to lock us out of our own computer.

Will those specific naive end-users, you know who you are, still defend their so-called OS and its way of doing business?

Microsoft better stay away from the AV business. Back in the days, Symantec, McAfee et al saw segment where there’s money to be made: make money off the errors that other software vendors make. Now Microsoft is making you pay to address issues that they have created? That’s just as insane like that whole Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan-crap.

In that regard I am quite happy with the current situation:

• Microsoft accidentally makes mistakes, holes, vulnerabilities, pressured by time-to-market stuff.
• the AV industry finds the bugs
• the AV industry publishes the bugs to force the vendor to fix it.
• the end-user gets new, better software, without paying a any additional money.

Future situation, if their AV service even gets off the ground:

• Microsoft accidentally makes mistakes, holes, vulnerabilities, pressured by time-to-market stuff.
• other AV vendors won’t have a chance writing AV-software for that OS, because they are not allowed to hook into the system unless, of course, they pay the appropriate licence, which clearly states that they may not publish any holes or vulnerabilities or bugs they find in Microsoft software.
• when vulnerabilities are found they quietly patch it (or they don’t), unknowingly overwriting files on your machine,
• the end-user only gets new, better software if he pays 50 dollars a year, and if he doesn’t do it, he wouldn’t even know what the vulnerabilities are because MS never publishes them because that “is a threat to international digital security”.

See the potential for evil there?

People will probably downplay this evil by saying one is too paranoia, but believe me… In a couple of years I’ll be able to say “I told ya so!”..

Update 8:28: By the way, considering the AV service is called One Care I wonder how that is pronounced and if I’m correct in stating that people that use the service can be called Microsoft (wngkrs) ?

Microsoft, Windows, Virus, OS