PC Crapware

My friend, Xiaodong, was griping the other day about Windows 7. He was pissed because he had to dish out another yearly $70 to renew his Norton antivirus.  He said "Macs are so superior, why can't Microsoft stop viruses like Apple does?".  I told him they can - with Microsoft Security Essentials, a bit of code and a service that is free if you have Windows 7.  You just need to download and activate it.  It works 100% in the background, automatically getting virus updates via your internet connection, and automatically screening files on your PC and files coming into your PC.  And it works really well.

Now the really interesting question - why doesn't Microsoft just supply Windows 7 with the anti-viral already on board and activated? Well, basically because this would screw things up for some of the big crapware people.

Let's step back here a minute.  Just in case you're not familiar with the name "crapware" - this is the stuff that is loaded onto a new PC before you buy it.  One type of crapware called adware pops open a window on your PC every now and then and tries to convince you to pay money for some useless piece of software or service.  See Wikipedia's description of crapware.

30 months ago when I was gifted with a new PC, my daughter and son-in-law first thing got rid of all of the crapware. The result was wonderful - all of the annoying pop ups and ads disappeared and the machine ran so much better.  It was even shinier.

So why was this crapware in my new PC in the first place?  Easy, it's because crapware people pay lots of money (often hundreds of $ per PC) to have the computer manufacturer put it there for them. This is part of the reason PCs sell for as little as they do.  In effect, PCs are subsidized by the crapware people.

Now, back to Microsoft and why they don't just include the anti-viral package in Windows 7, rather than leaving it so you have to download and activate the package.  At some point before releasing Windows 7,  Microsoft called together all of the big PC makers and shared highlights of the new OS.  After touting many other wonderful things about Windows 7, imagine that they eventually get to the virus topic:

Microsoft says "For years our operating systems have been susceptible to virus attacks. With Windows 7 that is finally ended, once and for all.  Included in Windows 7 is an excellent anti-virus package.  It kills those bugs dead! You don't have to take our word for it - look at the evaluations done by these independent labs".  The next PowerPoint slide shows a chart and a table with very impressive performance numbers. 

The PC makers cry out "Wait a minute now! You can't do that.  This would put the anti-virus crapware guys out of business.  And I'd lose the money I get from these guys!"  

Microsoft says "Well that's too bad, but that's the way its going to be. We want to create a better experience for PC users."

The PC makers think a minute, then come back with  "I suppose you're right.  This is best. Of course, without the crapware subsidies I'll have to raise my PC prices by 30%.  And this will mean more market loss to the Mac.  And, as I'm sure you already know, this means you'll be losing money too since fewer people will be using Windows.  ...   This is a very noble thing that you are doing."

Microsoft looks unhappy and goes away.   

Windows 7 comes out, with the anti-virus code included as a freebie, but.. you have to download it and activate it.  The news that Microsoft has finally developed a real fix to the virus issue is in section D, page 23 - right next to the article that tells you how to download and activate Microsoft Security Essentials.