McAfee advertises Windows woes

Microsoft is probably going to release a new version of Windows within six months or so and, when it does, it'll be bye-bye Symantec, McAfee and all you other minnows that have been swimming along plucking parasites from the underbelly of the beast.

For if Vista is any good at securing your PC from attacks by virtual suicide bombers or hungry worms, no-one will bother buying the code these insecurity firms try to scare you into buying in the first place.

Yesterday, McAfee took out a big ad in the Financial Times accusing the Redmond Vole of attempting to scupper it and its friends' attempts to make Windows more secure.

The firm brought the battle to Europe because the European Commission has previously taken steps to undercut Microsoft's monopoly position by slapping it on the wrists. American authorities are happier allowing the Vole to do what it likes.

In the ad, McAfee claims Vista's kernel has already been cracked. It says the firm "is being completely unrealistic if, by locking security companies out of the kernel, it thinks hackers won't crack Vista's kernel. In fact, they already have."

Microsoft in turn yawned and said it's on top of things, it always obeys the law, it's not really a monopoly and everything it invents is through its own efforts and it's never nicked anyone's ideas in the first place - except those it has bought - and it loves its customers and doesn't want them to pay too much for its software, it's just that it costs so much to write lines of code and burn a CD these days.

Oh, and if the European Commission wants to start playing silly buggers again it'll not ship Vista to whinging countries there and then what a pickle they'll be in.

Oh, woe, say McAfeeites, echoing sentiments expressed by Symantec earlier. What will happen to us? We could go the way of Netscape, or Novell or Drivespace or Quarterdeck, or any number of firms that made handy little utilities that Microsoft liked the look of and subsequently incorporated into what it calls the operating system.

Well, yes. Messrs McAfee, Symantec, Norton. I'd say you're up the Suwanee and it's a bit late to start casting around for a paddle. µ