Sadly, toll the bell (Score 1)

Not that I am a fan Symantec or McAfee, but I fear the end if independent antivirus offerings. You can argue that independent antivirus vendors such as Kaspersky, F-Prot and Trend Micro have better processes for responding to virus outbreaks and more efficient virus detection algorithms. In the end, it won't matter. As we've seen repeatedly, people would rather not think about virus protection. At best, "I've got installed" is the extent of virus protection people are willing to take. Whatever requires the minimum of attention will win the marketplace. That mirrors the "Netscape or Internet Explorer" arguments of a few years ago. You can choose to defend a position where people will be better off, but you'll never push that boulder uphill.