The Boys from Redmond are getting into the computer security business. Uncle Bill and his gang have acquired Sybari Software Inc. as they continue to gird their defenses against the spam, spyware and viruses that become more prevalent every day.

The purchase of Sybari, which was completed late last month, really comes as no surprise to major players in the security arena (Microsoft announced its intentions to buy the company in February), and the ones I've spoken with welcome, rather than fear, the move for several reasons:

• Under the antitrust agreement now in effect, Microsoft will not be able to "give the product away" as a component of its Windows operating system.
• They see it as a security scanning system, rather than software that will prevent interlopers from gaining access to your computer system.
• They see this as another move emphasizing the importance of having protection against spam, spyware and viruses installed on your networks or computers.

This, plus the company's purchase of antispyware vendor Giant in December, only serves to strengthen the security of its products.

So, what's next?

Most significant was the company's announcement that Sybari would no longer offer products for Linux or Unix-based systems, but all existing contracts would be honored until they expire.

This is also no surprise.

Also, the purchase of Giant has led to the development of Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware, which is still being tested. A beta version of the software can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/-default.mspx.

Although I see the Sybari product as basically being used on the Microsoft Exchange or corporate IT level, the new spyware software will probably be marketed to the mainstream users of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and how other software giants in this arena will respond.

Actually there is a new trend evolving, with these companies developing products that will prevent harmful files from reaching your computer, rather than using the more common tactic of scanning for harmful data and destroying it after it hits your system. They still see a danger in what they call a 12-hour window between a new strain of virus or worm hitting the Internet and the release of weapons to destroy it. Instead, they're concentrating on blasting away malicious code before it has a chance to do any damage.

It's unfortunate that software developers have to spend so much time and money to develop such products, but this is a market that bears watching, especially since Microsoft has thrown its hat into the ring.

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