Topic: Microsoft will soon unveil free anti-virus software "Morro"

[georgecloner]

Microsoft is getting ready to unveil a long-anticipated free anti-virus service for PCs that will compete with products sold by Symantec and McAfee.

A Microsoft spokesman said on Wednesday that the world's biggest software maker is testing an early version of the product with its own employees.

Microsoft would "soon" make a trial version, or product beta, available via its website, he added, but declined to provide a specific date.

Symantec shares fell 1.6 percent in afternoon trading and McAfee fell 1.8 percent, while Microsoft was up 1.1 percent. The Nasdaq composite index was down 1.2 percent.

Investors are closely monitoring the free service, code-named Morro after after Brazil's Morro de Sao Paolo beach, amid concern it could hurt sales of products from Symantec and McAfee, which generate billions of dollars of revenue a year protecting Windows PCs from attacks by hackers.

"It's a long-term competitive threat," said Daniel Ives, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets, though he added that the near-term impact was minimal.

Microsoft has said that Morro will offer basic features for fighting a wide-range of viruses, which would likely make it comparable to low-end consumer products from Symantec and McAfee that cost about US$40 per year.

Their top-selling products are security suites that come with features including encryption, firewalls, password protection, parental controls and data backup.

Three years ago, Microsoft entered that market with Live OneCare, which turned out to be a commercial flop.

It announced plans in November to kill that product suite, saying it would launch the free Morro service by the end of 2009.

Analysts said they are looking forward to examining Morro's beta to see exactly how its features compare to those in products from competitors.

Microsoft has said it will provide protection from several types of malicious software including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.

Officials with Symantec and McAfee have said they do not see Morro as a threat.

Joris Evers, a spokesman for No. 2 security software maker McAfee, said his company is already enjoying strong growth despite competition from free anti-virus products that are on the market.

"On a level playing field, we are confident in our ability to compete with anyone who might enter the marketplace," he said.

A spokesman for Symantec, the biggest security software maker, could not be reached for comment. Trend Micro, the No. 3 player, declined comment.


{Reuters}

[georgecloner]

I may say there will be pros and cons with Microsoft's delivering antivirus program.

Will it (MORRO) come out with the final release of WIN7 which is good thing that nothing to bother us with the installation of other antivirus program. 

Cons would be to those users that are "fans" using McAfee or Symantec or others, will be having hard time with the installation. What we will be having are competitions.

If Microsoft is going MONOPOLY over Operating Systems with Firewall and Antivirus embedding to its OS kernel, it would be sales disaster for Antivirus companies. 

For us consumers, we are tied up buying licenses from Microsoft.

Officials with Symantec and McAfee have said they do not see Morro as a threat.

I DON'T THINK SO...

[Samker]

I agree with you GC, but I also have doubts about "quality" of that new product... just try to compare Live OneCare results and some McAfee or Symantec products in past years?

Anyway, it'll be good thing to provide some preinstalled AV in new configuration (at least for Newbies), just like with Windows Firewall which is weak but most people will never install any FW...