Microsoft Stands Firm On PatchGuard

As they should. TechWeb's Gregg Keizer reports:

Microsoft is still talking with partners who are complaining about how the Redmond, Wash. developer has set up Windows Vista's security, but it won't budge from its decision to lock down access to the kernel, a company security manager said Thursday.

"Vista is not completed yet, and we're sitting down with everyone," said Stephen Toulouse, senior product manager with Microsoft's security technology group. "We're still gathering feedback" about Vista's security, he added.

That might seem to leave open the door to changes in how Vista implements the security features that third-party vendors have questioned, including plans to bar access to the kernel in the 64-bit version of the upcoming OS as well as not allow competitors to turn off Vista's Security Center dashboard. Rivals Symantec and McAfee have gone public in the last month with criticisms of both features, and have charged that Microsoft's decisions will make Vista less secure, not safer.

Users should boycott McAfee and Symmantec products because of this. If these companies cared about users's security more than their own bloated profits, this wouldn't even be an issue.