Microsoft completes Sybari acquisition

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 22 Jun 2005 at 17:45

Microsoft has axed Sybari's support for its Unix and Linux products upon completion of its acquisition.

Upon announcing the takeover in February, Microsoft had said that this was its intention and says it will continue to support customers of the Linux and Unix versions of Sybari's Antigen, although it will no longer sell them.

'Customers have told us they want powerful security solutions for the enterprise to help protect their messaging and collaboration servers from viruses, worms and spam,' said Mike Nash, corporate vice president of the Security Business & Technology Unit. 'Sybari's award-winning and innovative products coupled with its strong industry partnerships and deep integration with such products as Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 will deliver immediate value to Microsoft customers.'

...And only Microsoft customers. Redmond has made no secret of its lack of candour for Unix and Linux. When it bought Romanian antivirus outfit a couple of years ago it similarly jettisoned the Linux developers.

Yet the thing that may also be worrying Sybari customers is Microsoft's track record in encouraging customers to keep up with the latest versions of its software. Sybari currently supports Exchange and Domino in its product lineup, but how long that will last is anybody's guess.

Some also argue that many customers will feel uneasy at the thought of paying for a Microsoft product that protects against attacks targeting faults in other Microsoft products. It's true that Microsoft will offer it's own antivirus engine as an option with Sybari, but the Sybari suite is essentially a front end into which can be plugged a variety of antivirus engines such as that of Kaspersky.