Microsoft Agrees to Changes in Vista Security

An anonymous reader writes "Bowing to pressure from European antitrust regulators and rival security vendors, Microsoft has agreed to modify Windows Vista to better accommodate third-party security software makers. In a press conference Friday, Microsoft said it would configure Vista to let third-party anti-virus and other security software makers bypass 'PatchGuard,' a feature in 64-bit versions of Windows Vista designed to bar access to the Windows kernel. Microsoft said it would create an API to let third-party vendors access the kernel and to disable the Windows Security Center so that users would not be prompted by multiple alerts about operating system security. In addition, Redmond said it would modify the welcome screen presented to Vista users to include links to other security software other than Microsoft's own OneCare suite. From the article: 'It looks like Microsoft was really testing the waters here, sort of pushing the limits of antitrust and decided they probably couldn't cross that line just yet.'"

Bullocks

[ViaNRG]

'It looks like Microsoft was really testing the waters here, sort of pushing the limits of antitrust and decided they probably couldn't cross that line just yet.'

Just like I test the waters before I dump the bodies... Oh, wait I better not cross that line

Re:Are the alerts perhaps the problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

You must restart your computer. Would you like to do it now, or would you like me to display this same dialog 30 seconds from now, while you're doing something else like typing a slashdot comm

Re:You & I Are Smarter Than the Average Bear

[krell]

"These alerts and popups may be the thing needed to prevent my computer ignorant siblings from obediantly installing viruses on my parent's computer."

You mean the ignorant siblings who always click "OK" every time they see a popup, so when you go home you find a desktop filled with bonzi buddies and casino shortcuts, 3 toolbars on the browser, and full-screen ads that pop-up at any time at random?

"I know they're Microsoft and they're stupid/evil but you have to see at least some sort of benefit from these (all be they poorly implemented) security features."

Real security involves preventing the security crisis in the FIRST place, rather than bombarding the user with a blizzard of poorly-worded popups.

Re:testing the waters?

[Xiph1980]

may I assume that you took the blue pill?

Re:Are the alerts perhaps the problem?

[GTMoogle]

In college I worked at a software company where one developer arbitrarily decided that the product needed to restart when first installed. So he activated the standard windows restart routine that gives you a dialog that says "Windows will restart in 30 seconds", a graph that's counting down, and a 'restart now' button.

QA didn't have a cow, they had an entire herd.