More details on OneCare?

One of the most frequent questions we used to get at Connections was on Microsoft AntiSpyware – Will it be free, how much will it cost, will it ever leave beta? Greg Boyd did a great job dancing around this question by saying that it will remain free but the business one with centralized management will be provided as a separate product. This was before Microsoft purchased an AV company and started the OneCare program. Anyhow, here is the announcement of something called the Microsoft Client Protection program:

Microsoft today announced Microsoft Client Protection, a new security product that protects business desktops, laptops and file servers from emerging threats such as spyware and rootkits, as well as viruses and other traditional attacks. Microsoft Client Protection represents a significant milestone in the company’s continuing development of solutions to meet customers’ needs and improve the confidence in their computing experience.

It smells a lot like OneCare, doesn’t it? No real word on it yet but I’ve pinged Miss Security MVP so we’ll know soon enough.

Update: “Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz – SBS Rocks [MVP]: actually no.”