Re: Microsoft AntiSpyware falling further behind

This is going off-topic, so my apologies.  The following caught my interest:

[... deleted ...]
> Symantec has updated themselves to add Spam and Spyware to their
> antivirus product. We are using Symantec, Websweeper, MS anti-spyware,
> and Whole Security (behavior based AS).
>
> You might say this is overkill but who knows for sure - while they all
> play nice together I feel like I am at home by the fireplace with a good
> supply of logs.

I cannot help but question the continued use of these band-aid/prop-up "tools"
because the underlying foundation is built on clay.  I would like to hear from
the list how would you now quantify the "Total Cost of Ownership" in this
scenario.  We see the sponsored, self-serving studies by MS on how their
TCO is better than all, but no where in that "TCO study" does it show the
criminal waste of money and resources to shore-up shoddy software.

How much extra does the running of those "products" cost the organization?
What if those "products" fail?  False negatives/false positives?  If
you can only
see the obvious flaw in continuing to prop up these companies and
their so-called
"products", I am sure you will want to get out of this never-ending maze and
seek a simpler and better solution.

(overheard somewhere)
Symantec: hey, thanks to our Redmond friends, we have a business to run
and so long as they cannot get their act together, we will have a steady
stream of revenue.

(meanwhile, some where in Building 20 along One Microsoft Way):
How do we continue to grow in 2-digit numbers?  Our growth is single
digit and Wall Street is not happy (never mind that that single digit represents
a few billions).  You know what, since there is a ready made business to get
into, as shown by Symantec and others, why don't we just get into the
anti-virus/spyware/spam game ourselves?  The pressure to build a good
product is lessened (and perhaps removed) and we can sell to the public
tools to "protect" them from our products!   We are so good at spinning
stories, that they will never know what hit them and they will only happily
pay for the "new and improved OS" and "new and improved anti-spyware
for the new and improved OS".  Wonderful.  We might piss off Symantec
and others, but who's checking?  They are sponging us off, we might as
well take it back.

Harish