19 November 2008

(Sigh): Another BBC Ad for Microsoft

I suppose I should expect this now:

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

...


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."

Ah, bless 'em.

Of course, this move couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that the security of Windows is so poor as to make the operating system unusable without this kind of anti-virus crutch. Well, that's certainly the impression you get from benign old Auntie.

As usual, Mike Masnick gets it in one. His headline? "Microsoft Realizes No One Wants To Pay Microsoft To Fix Its Own Security Flaws."

6 comments:

Bigbrovar said...

its really sad .. i thought i was the only one to have noticed the thread... bbc now position its self to broadcast mircrosoft latest technology... just last week its was talking about their high performance computing os... its really sad. especially when u consider that the release of ibex the latest version of ubuntu was barely mentioned by them

Glyn Moody said...

I wonder whether the BBC is even aware it's doing it, or whether it's simply so blind to reality that it does't notice....

TGM said...

It's worth adding with this one that the first and second of the related links on the right hand side of the page report the failings of OneCare against other antiviruses.

So Microsoft giving people more of a false sense of security?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6418965.stm

Glyn Moody said...

True.

Anonymous said...

Bigger sigh...
Open University appoints Microsoft boss as vice-chancellor:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/nov/20/open-university-microsoft

You've got to hand it to them, they're even better than Nu Labor and His Darkness Mandelson at influence peddling and racketeering. It's a wonder they don't give up on the software lark altogether as a minor distraction.

Glyn Moody said...

Thanks, I'd missed that.

Yes, the Microsoft mafia is getting dangerously ubiquitous.