I have heard they are going to release a free anti-virus package and I can't wait. Say what you want, but Microsoft does software for the common man, the right way. They make it easy to use and affordable. Bill Gates, you da man!
I hate to be picky, but do you mean no-cost software, or real free software? (I would guess the former. See gnu.org if you don't know what I'm talking about.) I think Richard Stallman is a bit of a crackpot, _but_ he basically called it correct decades ago that the software barons would use the law to control the future.
Microsoft has already declared this will be a subscription service. It won't be 'free' for very long.
> ... putting more free software out with the release
> of it's anti-spyware ...
They bought an anti-spy company, changed a few logos and
put it out as MS software. The cynical have also noted that
MS is using it as a tool to discover and turn pirate copies
of Windows. (I have no sympathy for the pirates, but this
is part of a longer term plan to foist subscription-based
licensing [assured revenue flow to Redmond] onto everyone.)
> ... heard they are going to release a free anti-virus package ...
You mean like they briefly did in DOS 6.2? How long ago
was that? Where have they left you in the meantime?
With MS, nothing is ever really "free".
Microsoft's entry into the anti-virus and anti-spyware businesses will be a disaster for users. This is based on everything I know about Microsoft, having watched the company for almost 28 years. They will make a big fanfare, spend a lot of marketing dollars, but in the end, the company simply won't be able to keep up with the demands of keeping virus signatures current, which isn't the real point of this gambit, anyway. There is so much to this story and so much that I could write that I think I'll do so next week, and just move on to the next prediction.