The software giant announced Tuesday that Vista-compatible antivirus, antimalware, family safety and other security applications also are slated to ship at the end of the month from CA, ContentWatch, Grisoft, IMSafer, Kaspersky Lab, Panda Software, PixAlert and Safebrowse.com.
Symantec, for its part, said Norton Antivirus 2007 and Norton Internet Security 2007 for Windows Vista and XP are currently available for purchase at the company's Web site and will be widely available in the channel this month. Norton Confidential 2007 for Vista and Windows XP will be available from Symantec.com on Jan. 29 and more broadly in the channel in February. In addition, the Symantec Online Network for Advanced Response (SONAR) service, which came with the Cupertino, Calif., company's WholeSecurity acquisition, will be available for subscribers of Norton Internet Security and Norton Antivirus.
Meanwhile, Microsoft said McAfee plans to have its VirusScan Plus 2007, PC Protection Plus 2007, Internet Security Suite 2007, Total Protection 2007, Wireless Protection 2007, and SiteAdvisor and SiteAdvisor Plus services available for Vista by Jan. 30.
Also due out by that date and compatible with Vista are CA Anti-Virus 2007 and Panda Antivirus 2007, Panda ClientShield 2007 and Panda Internet Security 2007 Identity Protect, according to Microsoft.
Trend Micro said Wednesday that its Certified for Windows Vista Internet Security 2007 and Certified for Windows Vista AntiVirus Plus AntiSpyware 2007 will be available on Jan. 30. The Internet Security Suite 2007 for Windows XP has been available since last September.
Microsoft's announcement of the availability of third-party security products is significant given the friction between the Redmond, Wash., company and security ISVs over its entry into the security software market and blocked Vista APIs last year. Though some of those issues have been ironed out, the rivalry is expected to intensify this year as Microsoft tries to sell its Windows Live OneCare service and Forefront Client Security product to Vista customers.
Microsoft said OneCare will offer Vista customers unified, realtime updates, data protection, antiphishing activation and online management of firewall policies when the latest version is launched Jan. 30, as well as new features and functions as the service evolves. Forefront Client Protection product is due to ship in the second quarter, the company said.
Stephen W. Moss, COO of security solution provider NSPI, said the Roswell, Ga.-based company plans to continue supporting customers using products from CA, McAfee, Safebrowse, Symantec, Trend Micro and Microsoft.
"We are utilizing portions of the Microsoft Forefront portfolio for fully managed and hosted environments successfully today and expect to use more from Forefront in the coming year," Moss said.
Jeffrey Sherman, president of Los Angeles-based solution provider Warever Computing, said he will back Sophos' new small-business security suite for Vista and Grisoft's AVG Antivirus 7.5, AVG AntiSpyware and AVG Anti-Malware 7.5 titles for Vista -- and, cautiously, some Microsoft products.
"Being free, I do recommend Windows Defender to my clients. However, it doesn't seem really as thorough as many of the competing products," Sherman said. "I don't think Microsoft has really proven itself yet in terms of providing a viable, thorough antivirus platform. I personally would much rather trust a company that specializes in security software."
