MS Antispyware non Beta

[Ken]

Will the MS Antispyware program ever get released as a non
beta version? If and when that happens, will Microsoft
charge a fee for it? Will there be a fee/subscription to
get updates for it? Does MS plan on incorporating a
Adware blocker into this as well?

thanks

Ken

 

[Bill Sanderson]

It will be released as a non-beta. There will also be a beta2 version
first.
It won't cost extra beyond your original license for Windows.
No fee for updates.
(OTOH, it will probably also be a component in some subscription
offerings--OneCare, and perhaps a Corporate equivalent.)
Microsoft is not in the business of blocking ads. You can expect them to
help you remove software which fits their guidelines as undesirable, but you
can't expect them to remove all ad-generating software, which would include
their own products in some cases.

 

[Frank Crow]

I'm a little curious about the statement "Microsoft is
not in the business of blocking ads."

I didn't really know that there was a "business" of
blocking ads in the first place. Is Microsoft "in the
business" of blocking malware?

Also, even if Microsoft isn't "in the business of"
blocking ads, is it really that unreasonable to imagine
that some people (like myself) don't want to see *any*
ads?

A product like MS Antispyware seems like it would be in a
perfect position to include blocking ads as an option.

I am fairly successful at blocking many ads, Microsoft
ads included, by aliasing various internet sites
to "127.0.0.1" in my "hosts" file. (A trick that I
learned from an old ad blocker) It doesn't always work
and sometimes the systems that serve the ads act as
gateways to content that I want to see... so that's a
problem.

I figure that people, Microsoft included, do that by
design. I find the same "design" at atomfilms (etc).

The original intent of the internet was not supposed to
be a place sell people anything. It was originally
intented to be a wordwide library of basically free
information.

Now that is nothing more than an old dream. Few things
are free and there are little or no options to remove ads
even for people that don't want to see them.

Thanks to people that *are* "in the business of" forcing
people to view ads, whether they like it or not. (i.e.
Microsoft)

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Sure, many people don't want to see ads.

The pieces of Microsoft software which display ads are individually
uninstallable, and are not built-in parts of the OS.

Other software which include ad display, Eudora, for example, are similarly
optional and installed or uninstalled at the option of the user.

Microsoft produces software which is in part supported by ad revenue. Many
of their customers also do this. They aren't going to interfer with the
normal operation of such software.

And none of this discussion relates to folks like Claria or the folks behind
Aurora, who are in rather a different business--one whose entire product is
the ads (or rather the leads produced in response to the ads)--and whose
products historically have been installed by stealth.

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