Topic: Microsoft ditches OneCare

[Clive]

Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft's all-in-one security product, will not be on sale beyond 30 June 2009, the company has said.

Instead, Microsoft will turn its efforts towards a free security suite, codenamed 'Morro'.

The company said that this will be more effective in the fight against malware on a global level, as subscription-based security products can be difficult for some people to maintain.

"Consumer security models are based on annual subscriptions that need a credit card to renew," said Amy Barzdukas, senior director of product management at Microsoft.

"Given that many consumers in markets like Brazil, India and China do not have access to those types of payment services, it can be difficult to secure and maintain quality malware protection," Barzdukas continued.

Insecure PCs can easily fall victim to botnets, churning out spam and malware without their owners' knowledge, which means it is in the interests of all surfers worldwide to make these computers secure.

Microsoft's promise of a free security suite will be a big step in solving this problem, the company hopes.

The end of OneCare also means the end of Microsoft Equipt, a subscription-based suite of Microsoft products launched less than a month ago.

The company said that retail sales of Equipt would end within 90 days and subscription services would come to an end in the first half of 2009.

"Microsoft will ensure that customers who subscribed to this service continue to get value from it through the end of their subscription and will provide detailed information about customer options early next year," the company said in a statement.


http://onecare.live.com
www.microsoft.com/uk/equipt

[Simon]

It's about time something like that was integrated into Windows.

[Reno]

In a surprise move, Microsoft has announced it will offer a free anti-virus and security solution from the second half of next year.

It will stop selling OneCare, its all-in-one security and PC management service, from the end of June 2009.

The new software, code-named Morro, will be a no-frills program suited to smaller and less powerful computers.

The software will be free to download and will support Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

The move comes as sales of the OneCare subscription service are flagging - reportedly because the anti-virus marketplace is already flooded with big-name players such as Symantec and McAfee.

Since its launch in May 2006, OneCare has garnered less than 2% of the security software market share.

In a statement, Microsoft said that Morro would be designed specifically to be a small-footprint program that uses fewer system resources. This, it said, would be ideal for users with low-bandwidth connections or computers without much processing power.

That will be of particular interest to consumers buying comparatively low-powered "netbook" computers.

Amy Barzdukas, senior director of product management in the online services division at Microsoft, said: "This new, no-cost offering will give us the ability to protect an even greater number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is outpaced only by the growth of malware."

bbc source