Microsoft will launch its Windows OneCare Live PC maintenance service in June, the company said Tuesday. The product, which has been available for free in beta since November, will be sold for $49.95 per year, and certain beta users will be able to purchase the service for a reduced rate of $19.95.
This $49.95 annual subscription fee will cover as many as three Windows XP PCs, said Brian Hall, group program manager with Microsoft. "It means that 98 percent of homes in the U.S. will be able to buy one subscription and be able to cover all of their PCs," he said.
The service is designed to simplify PC maintenance for consumers by combining antivirus, antispyware, PC tuning, and backup capabilities through one interface. Increasingly analysts and vendors believe this type of integrated service will replace stand-alone antivirus and backup products that are widely used today.
"We pull it all together in a super-simple, super-straightfoward user experience," Hall said.
In July of last year, a select group of 20,000 beta testers got a first look at the product. After four months of closed testing, the beta program was opened up in November to anyone interested in trying out OneCare, and there are now "hundreds of thousands" of beta testers, Hall said.
An upcoming revision to the beta code, expected at the end of this month, will include the Windows Defender antispyware code. This will be the last major security component to be incorporated into OneCare before its June launch.
Combined services like OneCare have a good chance of succeeding in the $15 billion per year consumer security market, said Andrew Jaquith, senior analyst with Yankee Group Research. "It's a good idea," he said. "OneCare was really a market-moving event when it was announced a year ago, because it wasn't obvious these things should be put together."
Security vendors are clearly paying attention. Just last week, Symantec announced plans to launch a competitor to OneCare, code-named Genesis, which is due in September. Like OneCare, Genesis will provide antivirus, antispyware, system tuning and backup and recovery services.
The free beta version of the service is available here: http://ideas.live.com/.
Beta testers who sign up for the paid service between April 1 and April 30 will get the special rate of $19.95.
(Narasu Rebbapragada of PC World contributed to this report)
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts
This white paper provides guidance on how to develop a strategic approach to managing and monitoring logs, a key function required for compliance with many regulatory mandates and a critical defense against security threats.
Download now! »
Learn about the processes and technologies that support security information management (SIM) operations, as well as the business case for SIM. The series examines different options for implementing SIM and gives you evaluation criteria for selecting the best option for your organization.
Download now! »
Learn the strategies, actions, and capabilities that Best-in-Class organizations employ and technologies they choose to obtain superior performance against various security performance metrics. This report provides guidelines for identifying which security solutions to consume as a MSS and defines best practices for choosing and managing MSSPs.
Download now! »
Recommend This
