Vista conflicts = security wars

John Thompson, Symantec’s chief executive, still seems sore with Microsoft about its move onto his anti-virus turf.

Symantec and McAfee, two of the leading companies in the field, complained about the new Vista operating system before its launch. Its improved PatchGuard security was inhibiting their access to the 64-bit version of the operating system’s kernel so that they too could prevent hacker attacks.

That spat has been resolved but Microsoft is still taking on Symantec and McAfee with products such as OneCare and Windows Defender protecting its operating system.

At the RSA security conference in San Francisco today, Mr Thompson followed a keynote by Bill Gates with his own speech, including remarks about Microsoft’s place in the security ecosystem.

“You wouldn’t want the company that created your company’s operating platform to be the one that is securing it from a wide range of risks, it’s a huge conflict of interest,” he said, to loud applause from delegates.

He said he refused to plug Symantec’s own products in his speech, but jokingly referred to Norton Internet Security 2007 on numerous occasions.