Does Microsoft Being In The Anti-Spyware Business Help Lower Prices?

During the past week you may have read that Symantec is releasing their 2008 versions of all of their security and anti-virus products, which makes one wonder. By Microsoft getting into the anti-virus/anti-spyware market with their own line of software protection had any affect on pricing by other vendors?

You may recall that both Symantec and McAfee were telling us when Vista was released, that Microsoft was not allowing them to provide compatible software that would work with Vista. Symantec then went a step further and criticized Microsoft products as being inferior to their own. Citing several different tests that Symantec used for ammunition, they claimed that Microsoft was not doing a good enough job and that they could and would do it better.

What was surprising to most of us was the fact that Symantec software had become notorious for slowing down computer systems and gobbling up resources. Those of us who had used Symantce products for years started looking for alternatives and some of us found relief in using free products that were available.

But it now seems that Symantec has had to offer more bang for your buck in that some of their products are now designed to be installed on more than one computer system which cuts down the TCO [total cost of ownership] for those who chose to stay with the Symantec product line.

So my question is this? Should we thank Microsoft for getting into the security software business thereby forcing price reductions in the market place? Or should we view what Symantec is doing as something that would of happened any way?

Comments welcome.

[tags]microsoft, symantec, anti, virus, spyware, software, [/tags]