Jeff James recently wrote in Windows IT Pro that Microsoft is going to be taking a more aggressive approach to making their products more secure. This includes embedding security technologies into their core products; for example, they are bundling Forefront Endpoint Protection in the Core Client Access License (CAL) suite. This “security by default” stance has both pros and cons. It will help to ensure that important applications such as Exchange aren’t running without security applications, but will it also result in less choice for users in regard to what vendor’s protection they want to use? Maybe, maybe not. After all, Internet Explorer is bundled with Windows but a pretty hefty number of users still download and use alternative web browsers.
Read Jeff’s report on the discussion with Garth Fort, Microsoft’s general manager of System Center and Forefront, here: