Symantec gets litigious to stop Windows Vista

Symantec is suing Microsoft to hold up development of Windows Vista, which they say wrongly uses Symantec's Veritas storage technology. For its part, Microsoft claims the suit is unfounded, citing a 1996 agreement between the two companies that gave Microsoft the right to use Veritas technology in Windows NT. However, that was when Veritas was an independent company -- Symantec only acquired Veritas in 2004, hence the dispute. In addition to asking for unspecified damages, Symantec is also demanding that Veritas be removed from other Microsoft products, including Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. According to PC World, this suit has been brewing since 2004, when Symantec first learned of Microsoft's plans for Vista. Symantec may have a point, but it seems like Microsoft is doing a pretty good job at holding up Vista without the court's help.

[will chen @ May 19th 2006 3:37PM]

jesus guys... stop being so anti apple all the time...

[mazola @ May 19th 2006 3:50PM]

A successful injunction could only bring Vista to market sooner.

[Eric @ May 19th 2006 4:17PM]

1. jesus guys... stop being so anti apple all the time...

ARE YOU INSANE?

[oshean @ May 19th 2006 4:19PM]

Wouldn't be suprised if we find that Symantec products didn't work correctly in Vista.

[IANYL @ May 19th 2006 4:23PM]

>>However, that was when Veritas was an independent company -- Symantec only acquired Veritas in 2004, hence the dispute.

[bob @ May 19th 2006 4:34PM]

" hold up development of Windows Vista," lmao, surely that should be microsofts moto

[Bweetza @ May 19th 2006 4:37PM]

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

[esoteric930 @ May 19th 2006 4:51PM]

This has nothing to do with CareOne in Vista being a competitor to Symantec's bloatwar-- er Norton, I promise.

[Chris @ May 19th 2006 4:56PM]

1. jesus guys... stop being so anti apple all the time...

Send me some of whatever you are smoking, because it's obviously some good stuff.

[Brandon G @ May 19th 2006 5:03PM]

Symantec is just pissed because now that vista includes anti-virus software 90% of their market will dry up over the matter of a year.

[Walt @ May 19th 2006 5:08PM]

They do _not_ have a point, they bought a company that made an agreement with MS. This means they bought into that agreement as well; as it binds Veritas. This obviously refers to NT backup... If the agreement stands, it stands, not much Symantec can do but to buy out the contract if it still exists. But I would agree that Symantec is trying to cause MS some trouble concerning MS's newer offerings that compete the Symantec...plus the hint of A/V in their OS in the future.

[tekdemon @ May 19th 2006 5:25PM]

lol Symantec must be getting kinda desperate...now that Windows is going to come pretty protected out of the box they're out of a market.

Oh well it's been a long time coming anyways...MS should have integrated virus scanning years ago.

[BillyBob @ May 19th 2006 6:04PM]

This doesn't have anything to do with Symantec buying Veritas. It has to do with the technology being used outside of Windows NT. Notice they're also asking for it to be removed from other non-NT operating systems. Can't say whether it has merit without seeing the original agreement.

[Nick @ May 19th 2006 7:09PM]

Windows XP, 2003, and Vista are all NT-based operating systems so they are still using the software with the NT kernel. It would have been a very flaky agreement to only allow the product to be marketed under a single name -- that makes no sense.

Nick

[Finished.Law.School @ May 19th 2006 7:29PM]

Now Symantec products will not work in Vista and Vista will be delayed another 6 years and still end up with fewer features than originally promised. Microsoft should give up and concentrate on video games or something...

[Lord of My Pants @ May 19th 2006 7:50PM]

This is just desperation. Symantec has a miserable product that is hopelessly overdone and buggy.
The Windows Beta "One Care" works much, much more smoothly than Norton. I was happy to ditch NAV and all the related crap. It never worked right and cluttered my system with processes and obtrusive UI widgets. JUNK. I hope MS crushes them.

[Ken @ May 19th 2006 8:12PM]

this is funny...they have been feeding off each other for years...symantec has made a living on exploiting flaws in windows...microsoft makes a living out of issuing crappy software, designed for gov't intrusion...

[Walter E. Wallis @ May 19th 2006 8:18PM]

Someone 'splain to me. Why doesn't Microsoft buy Symantec out of petty cash rather than make lawyers rich.

[strider_mt2k @ May 19th 2006 9:06PM]

I have to say that I won't be renewing my Norton sub this year since I found freeware/open source alternatives.

That being said I still don't see what compelling reason I'm going to have to "upgrade" to Windows Vista.

[BillyBob @ May 20th 2006 3:14AM]

"Windows XP, 2003, and Vista are all NT-based operating systems so they are still using the software with the NT kernel. It would have been a very flaky agreement to only allow the product to be marketed under a single name -- that makes no sense."

What makes no sense is for Veritas to have entered into an agreement with Microsoft that would give Microsoft the ability to use the Veritas product in perpetuity. Veritas would be nuts to have done so.

[Marc Mayor @ May 20th 2006 5:12AM]

Buy SYMC, short MSFT, or vice-versa?

[Right Said Fred @ May 20th 2006 8:26AM]

Criminy guys... stop being so anti microsoft all the time...

[Sonny @ May 20th 2006 12:08PM]

With Microsoft Live OneCare and MS Firewall now available ...could Microsoft be trying to limit usage of Symantec and Norton products on new Windows???

[John @ May 20th 2006 10:46PM]

You people are nuts if you think anything that microsoft ships is going to be secure. Now I'm not rooting for Symantec or anything, but... this is microsoft/windows we are talking about here. You would be an idiot to buy this software and think that its going to be "Secure out of the box"

Hasnt anyone learned anything yet?

[Claudiu Spulber @ May 22nd 2006 4:57AM]

MS is doing a pretty good job at delaying Vista itself, as stated in the article. This is not about NT Backup. In eWeek (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1965013,00.asp) they say that it's about Symantec's Volume Manager product and that Microsoft "misused trade secrets". Seems too that they're trying to delay Vista because they will start losing money once it's out.