Office Pro Plus When Microsoft conspiracy theories

Two days in the past, Jim Allchin, Microsoft Co-President of Platforms and Companies, introduced that Microsoft released Windows Vista to manufacturing. Inside the 48 hours because then, numerous reporters and bloggers have been jumping all over the truth that Allchin admitted throughout the press conference subsequent the RTM announcement that his seven-year-old son is running Vista on his Pc without having having an anti-virus system set up. I've always been one to question Microsoft's motives and double-speak. But it is completely misleading to paint Allchin's acknowledgement that his son — running a heavily locked-down, parental-control-ridden Computer, in non-admin mode (one would pretty safey assume) — isn't operating a Microsoft- and/or third-party-developed AV system means Microsoft is claiming Vista is so solid that it doesn't require AV software.Did Allchin make a mistake in his attempt to prove that Vista is far significantly more secure than any previous version of Windows, including XP SP2? Yes. He should not have suggested that any users, even those with Windows chiefs as their fathers, can or should forego antivirus software.But now this story has now taken on a whole other life of its own. One IT professional pinged me on instant messaging this morning, asking me whether I heard "Microsoft is telling Vista users that they no longer need AV software." Another report implied that Allchin dropped the nugget about his son in order to try to stick it to McAfee and Symantec for complaining about PatchGuard. Next thing you know, we'll hear that Allchin doesn't even really have a seven-year-old son and that he fabricated the entire scenario in order to tank the stocks of its competitors, while hopefully buoying Microsoft's own. Take off your tin-foil hats, folks. Microsoft has been so completely burned by security problems with Windows in recent years that there is just no way anyone at the company, from Chairman Gates — who, granted, couldn't resist making a castration reference,Office Pro Plus, in regards to Microsoft's security partners/competitors today — on down, would suggest users shut off their firewalls, remove their AV software or do anything to further compromise the already delicate security balance in which Windows operates.Update: On Friday, Allchin attempted to put a halt to the interpretations of his comments around Vista and the need for antivirus software in a post to the Vista team blog. "I could certainly see that what I said wasn’t as clear as it could have already been, and I’m sorry for that," Allchin blogged. "However, it is also clear from the transcript that I didn’t say that users shouldn’t run antivirus software with Windows Vista!"