Microsoft Customers Sour on Software Assurance
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About 74 percent of those who said they would not buy the same amount of Software Assurance maintenance said the economics did not make sense.
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(InfoWorld) - Top executives from the security firm McAfeeÂ went on the offensive Monday against Microsoft, saying Vista will be even less secure for customers than previous versions of Windows. The day after McAfee took out a full-page advertisement in the Financial Times to publicly air its grievances over the security of Vista, McAfee Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) George Samenuk, Vice President and Chief Scientist George Heron and Chief Security Architect John Viega delivered the same message in person in New York. "We are disturbed by the fact that with Vista, end customers will be less secure," Samenuk said. "Customers trust us ... To erode that trust would hurt all Internet users, all PC users. I don't think Microsoft wants that, nor does McAfee want that." Two security elements in Vista fare chief among McAfee's concerns, executives said. In Vista, Microsoft is locking down the kernel of the OS through a feature called PatchGuard on 64-bit versions. Microsoft's argument is that this will keep miscreants out of the OS and prevent the incidence of attacks, and it is something for which customers have been asking. "Fooling around with the kernel while it's running is like changing the sparkplugs on your car when the engine is running," said Stephen Toulouse, a senior product manager at Microsoft. "It's never been a good thing for users." But McAfee said since PatchGuard also prevents third-party security companies from getting inside the OS, they can't activate crucial security measures in their software to protect the OS from intruders. PatchGuard is not new in Vista, said Bruce McCorkendale, a distinguished engineer with McAfee competitor Symantec Corp., which shares McAfee's consternation over the feature. He said Symantec has been petitioning for Microsoft to change the feature since the company introduced it in its 64-bit version of Windows XP, but the company will not budge. "If you ask any security vendor that offers advanced protection, you'd get the same answer [about PatchGuard]," McCorkendale said. "It's just inhibiting the way security vendors do their jobs." However, according to Jupiter Research, only 5 percent of companies with 100 employees or more are running Windows XP in its 64-bit version, and that adoption is not supposed to ramp up significantly anytime soon, said analyst Joe Wilcox. "If this new [feature] affects 64-bit only and nobody is using 64-bit, what's the problem?" he said. The other big concern with Vista for McAfee lies in a new security interface called Windows Security Center (WSC). Microsoft will not allow this interface to be turned off, so McAfee and other third-party users can't install their own security-management consoles on Vista machines, executives said. McAfee's argument is that third-party security products can better detect potential or existing security problems that Vista inherently can, and unless those can be surfaced through the interface, users will not be alerted to them, Viega said. Some believe security vendors are crying foul over Vista because Microsoft's ability to control security features of the OS is a threat to their livelihood. Companies such as McAfee and Symantec have all but built their businesses on the fact that Windows is inherently insecure, and add-on security software is needed to protect it from intrusion. "Historically, when Microsoft has gotten into a market, the number of competitors goes down," Wilcox said. However, he said there is a legitimate concern, supported by precedence, that not only will vendors be pushed out of the market, but there will be less innovation in Windows security products and more problems will arise. Wilcox cited Internet Explorer as an example of an area in which Microsoft beat competitors, but then did not innovate on the product until it faced competition once again. "Microsoft won the browser war and for years abandoned the territory," Wilcox said. If Microsoft successfully reduces the number of competitors by building security into Windows, it might also become lackadaisical about security improvements, thus opening the OS up to more attacks.
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Computerworld readers across the country have written in angered and frustrated by anitpiracy features that are included in the new Vista operating system.
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Microsoft says error in e-mail led some to incorrectly conclude that Vista Service Pack 1 beta is available.
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When Microsoft Corp. said it planned to begin checking for pirated copies of its Windows operating system using the method it set up to send people security fixes, even some of the company's traditional critics could sympathize.
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Software maker says it's seeing "unacceptable number of repairs;" investigation finds several factors could lead to hardware failures.
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Microsoft's attempt to win over new users with a cut-down version of Windows has come in for strong criticism.
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Microsoft has begun giving all computer users early warning of security problems with its products, after drawing criticism for a similar program that only gave such warnings to some of its largest customers.
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WASHINGTON - U.S. government agencies need to better understand the vulnerabilties of the software they're buying, said IT workers from several government agencies during a software assurance forum in Washington, D.C., this week.
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Test of 15 antivirus packages shows failures in four. Microsoft pledges improvements; McAfee says its updates weren't included.
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Considered important vulnerabilities that leave users open to attack in Microsoft&#39;s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows for desktop and server installations, the Redmond
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InfoWorld - Windows Vista&#160;isn&#39;t the only recently released Microsoft software that will give users headaches when they upgrade their systems. Corporate users, partners, and analysts said upgrading to Exchange Server 2007 from previous versions also may be a lengthy and painful process for companies, which may want to take a wait-and-see approach to the new software.
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Antivirus vendor cries foul, saying Microsoft locks out other vendors' products.
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Jon Oltsik cautions that the simmering discontent within the IT community over insecure software is about to boil over.
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(InfoWorld) - IT procurement managers are finding that Microsoft's Software Assurance maintenance program may not save them money as hoped, according to a survey by Forrester Research. The Microsoft program guarantees updates to new products along with support and training tools. One of the most compelling reasons to buy Software Assurance was free upgrades from, for example, Windows XP to Windows Vista. But Microsoft hasn't stuck to a consistent release schedule, which can actually mean the program could cost companies more money than simply buying new licenses as needed, according to the four-page Forrester report, written by Julie Giera, a vice president at the research firm. For desktops, Software Assurance (SA) is 29 percent the cost of an annual license. If Microsoft goes at least four years between releases -- the company went about five years between XP and Vista releases -- the cost of Software Assurance works out at 116 percent of a new desktop license, Giera wrote. For servers, Software Assurance is about 25 percent the annual cost of a license. "The uncertainty regarding product releases makes it difficult for IT procurement and sourcing professionals to justify a three-year SA renewal," the report said. Microsoft has also not yet published a road map for products released since November 2006, such as Windows Vista, Office 2007, SharePoint 2007, Exchange 2007, and other products. Of 63 IT procurement professionals Forrester surveyed, 86 percent said their licensing arrangement with Microsoft will expire this year. Twenty-six percent said they will not renew Software Assurance with 31 percent still undecided. Another 18 percent said they would renew for some products, with the remainder saying they would either probably or definitely renew. About 74 percent of those who said they would not buy the same amount of Software Assurance maintenance said the economics did not make sense, and 59 percent said they did not expect to get a new product release. Forrester is advising companies to negotiate early with Microsoft and hold out for better deals. "Discounts in the 7 percent to 15 percent range, depending on your size and level of spending, should be the foundation of any renewal discussion," the report said. Companies should also simply do the math. "This sounds like common sense, but we're continually surprised by the number of companies that don't take the time to conduct a financial analysis of the costs and benefits of SA," Forrester said. Microsoft could not be reached for immediate comment.
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Updates pushed out last week by Microsoft to Windows Vista users to prep PCs for next month's release of Service Pack 1 have crippled some machines, according to messages posted to the company's support site.
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Criticized for a program that only provided some of its largest customers with warnings on security problems in its products, Microsoft Corp.