Instead Of Whining About Microsoft, Websense Tries Innovating
from the now-there's-a-thought dept
A few weeks ago, there was a lot of discussion after a computer security company accused Microsoft of engaging in predatory pricing with the release of its new anti-virus software. At the time, we suggested that instead of whining about Microsoft's dominance, companies should seek to out-innovate them instead. So it's no surprise that a new security endeavor employs Google's search capabilities, since Google's products have served as a platform for a lot of innovation. Websense has developed a technique that uses Google's search engine to proactively scan sites that may be distributors of malware. The company plans on opening this capability up to other security companies in the future. This model isn't likely to be a silver bullet, but it represents a departure from the typical anti-virus approach, which involves waiting until the malware is at the end user's computer. As more functions move from the desktop to the web, buying security in a box at Best Buy will make less and less sense. Meanwhile, techniques such as this one to monitor the dangers out there will become more important.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
First post too!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
WTF?
Though Google is widely used to search the Internet for Web pages and office documents
I'm sorry. Did I just read that most people search for "office documents"? WTF? Let's read that again...
Though Google is widely used to search the Internet for Web pages and office documents
The average user doesn't use google to search for (these highly ambiguos) "office documents".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Put your myth in your pipe and smoke it.
If we did not have to "thing" (sic) of all the unemployed AV programmers, we could allocate that thought, money, and time to something else, like porn, dinner out, flowers for the girlfriend, better wages and working conditions for our employees.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Glad to see someone trying something different!
Although I have to agree with AC, they will get sued in this sue happy society.
"Though Google is widely used to search the Internet for Web pages and office documents
The average user doesn't use google to search for (these highly ambiguos) "office documents".
actually google desktop is great, better than ms search function.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Put your myth in your pipe and smoke it.
Just a theory but hey how better than to get people to need and buy your product? See where I'm going with this ;)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: WTF?
1) Learn to Spell
2) review google's techonology before making assanine assumptions
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
predatory pricing?
I don't think an AV tool should cost an arm and a leg to buy, so those companies wanting to sell super duper antivirus software for $129 per computer need to get a life.
By that argument, then the whole Open source community is anti-competitive because they offer free alternatives to ALL retail software. Why not go after AVG which offers a completely capable and robust anti-virus tool for free? I am probably not going to get Norton Whatever 2007 because AVG is more then capable of handling protection on my computer. Why not sue Sun for making a completely capable but free Office Suite?
People like to go after Microsoft because that is where the money is, period.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: WTF?
1) Learn to Spell
2) review google's techonology before making assanine assumptions
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Yes I do
[ link to this | view in thread ]
AVG
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Glad to see someone trying something different
[ link to this | view in thread ]
SiteAdvisor
[ link to this | view in thread ]