It’s not yet 8.00am in the morning and I’m reading my email. There’s a bulletin from eWeek which offers the following data point, and I quote:
“Data Exposure grows more frightening as the amount of malicious software released in the second half of 2007 outpaced the release of legitimate software.”
The news story cites Symantec’s latest Internet Security Threat report, which notes that Symantec detected 711,912 new threats in 2007 compared to 125,243 in 2006. And nobody is gonna be surprised if the number grows to 1,000,000 this year. Except for Kaspersky - because according to a press release I also got this morning, Kaspersky is convinced that the malware population last year was about 2,227,415 and it is expecting a figure in the region of 20,000, 000 this year.
And by the way, if you think each of these is a handcrafted virus, think again, many of them are polymorphic viruses that gradually mutate.
The epidemic of malware can be laid at the feet of the AV industry (see AVID for the full story). When the cat’s away the mice will play, and when the security software’s dumb the hackers have fun. That’s how it goes - it goes badly for the average PC user. Symantec, by the way, is on the side of the angels (from my perspective) as it includes whitelisting in its endpoint security software. Other AVID heroes are Bit9, AppSense, SignaCert, Savant Protection, Securewave, CA and CoreTrace - soon to be joined by Kaspersky. Notice how long this list is growing. I love it.
Microsoft Closing In On Yahoo!
We’ll soon know whether Microsoft will gain control of Yahoo. Steve Ballmer has given the fading Internet company 3 weeks to complete a merger agreement otherwise he intends to make an offer directly to Yahoo shareholders - at a lower price. Yahoo has been playing hard to get, but the current board had no real defense against a predatory take-over. It has been trying to make agreements on the side with AOL and others but, in truth, it’s a fish on a line.
Microsoft will initiate a proxy contest to elect a new board which will almost certainly succeed because it will be in the shareholders financial interests. Unless there’s a dramatic number of Yahoo! shareholders who are sentimental about Yahoo! remaining independent (and I seriously doubt that) it will all be over soon.
I’ll be interested to see how Microsoft thinks it can use Yahoo to mount a competitive assault on Google.
VMware AR Disaster
That’s what it looks like to me. It always saddens me when a company (especially a successful one) starts insulting analysts. I got an email this morning from VMware Analyst Relations inviting me to present at VMworld in Las Vegas for free. Nice offer: give up a good deal of your time and do some work for our benefit for nothing. With a great deal of virtual generosity VMware tells me that “if selected to present, you’ll receive a full conference pass for four days, access to all VMworld sessions and hands-on labs, and hotel accommodations for one night.” (The other three nights I guess you have to sleep at the slot machines.)
I cannot be the only analyst insulted by this - in fact I cannot imagine any analyst not being insulted by this. Well VMware, here’s my counter offer. I have a number of corporate customers who might be interested in using your virtualization software, if I select you to provide your product for free you’ll receive a visit to my customers’ site over a period of 4 days and I might pay for the hotel for one night.
On second thoughts, no, I’ll recommend Citrix. It’s less expensive and the virtualization is free and Citrix doesn’t insult analysts.
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Robin,
Thanks for sending us the link to your blog. Sorry you felt aggrieved that we included you in our call for papers. This initiative is a response to approaches from analysts who recognized the commercial value to them of showcasing their wares at VMworld, which last year attracted 12,000 IT executives. This year we expect 14,000 visitors, who will network with peers, educate themselves on the latest thinking and see nine platinum sponsors presenting their latest virtualization offerings. There will also be a healthy cross-section of press and analysts, to record, comment and in some cases, to present. Our customer surveys tell us that the virtualization information presented at VMworld is very valuable to them.
This is the first year VMware has issued a call for papers to analysts to present at VMworld. Given the number of unsolicited requests from analysts and others to present to this audience, we wanted to make sure we had a process in place that would be fair, democratic and open to all industry analysts. We decided to offer a show pass gratis for analysts who present at the show; allowing them to attend on-site labs, breakouts and many networking events.
Clearly the show pass and our offer of accommodation is meant as a courtesy as we recognize your need to maintain your respected vendor-independent reputation.
Thanks for your input!
-Bobbie Laccabue
Sr. AR Manager, VMware
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