[gui-talk] Article: Microsoft Debuts Windows Live OneCare

[Steve Pattison]

This article is taken from the Beta News home page at 
www.betanews.com.  -Steve.

Microsoft Debuts Windows Live OneCare
By Nate Mook,
BetaNews
May 31, 2006, 1:15 PM

After a year in beta testing, Microsoft on Wednesday took the wraps off
Windows Live OneCare, its all-in-one security and PC care 
subscription service. That package includes
antivirus, anti-spyware and PC tuning and backup tools, along with 
free support for $49.95 USD per year.

In an interview Tuesday, OneCare Business Strategy Manager Sam 
McManus told BetaNews
that the service is targeted at the average computer user, and will 
let them "focus
on enjoying their online experience."

"The reason we built [Windows Live OneCare] is the frustration we 
have heard from
users," McManus said. "It's too complicated." According to Microsoft, 
very few customers
ever perform backups, most have out of date security software, and 
over 70 percent
do not use a firewall.

But such an explanation may provide little solace for Microsoft 
partners such as
McAfee and Symantec, which are facing new competition in a market the 
Redmond company
previously avoided. The $49.95 yearly fee enables customers to 
install the software
on up to three computers.

Customers who do not wish to renew their subscription for $49.95 can 
continue to
use the Windows Live OneCare software, but with limited 
functionality. For example,
backups can continue to be accessed, but not created.

"Microsoft is aggressively pricing OneCare, clearly with the intent 
of quickly grabbing
a bunch of new customers. Relentless consumer PC security problems 
give Microsoft
good reason to act--for the preservation of its brand and protection 
of its customer,"
Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox told BetaNews.

"But I question the method, of competing with longstanding and loyal 
partners like
McAfee and Symantec, as the best approach. Increased Microsoft 
competition is a growing
problem for the company's development partners."

Still, McManus said that Microsoft felt there was a lot of room for 
multiple players.
"The response industry-wide is that this has been the right direction 
to go," she
added.

Although OneCare will serve as a central management tool for existing 
applications
such as Microsoft Update and Windows Defender, which provides the 
anti-spyware functionality,
it does include some new features. Microsoft has implemented 
antivirus technology
it acquired from RAV, along with a more advanced firewall than the 
one that ships
with Windows.

McManus explained that Windows Live OneCare tackles a "new category" 
in the security
space, an all-in-one utility that makes it easy for novices to stay 
safe amid a surge
in online threats.

McAfee is preparing a similar service
  code-named "Falcon," while Symantec has been working on a singular 
solution dubbed
"Genesis."

"I wouldn't call OneCare a new category of product or category 
defining product.
Many security software vendors offer PC protection suites," noted 
Jupiter's Wilcox.
"While compelling, Microsoft's stoplight motif isn't exactly original."

AOL is also preparing its own comprehensive security and computer 
improvement suite
tentatively called "Total Care." The service will be offered to both 
members and
non-members for a fee, and is expected to go beta in the coming 
weeks, sources tell
BetaNews.

Windows Live OneCare will be offered in retail locations and is available for
purchase and direct download online.

The service currently works with Windows XP Service Pack 2. Microsoft plans to
bring OneCare to international markets in the coming months.

A beta version of OneCare for Windows Vista will be ready by the end 
of the year,
McManus said.


Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
Skype:  steve1963
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