The latest usage share data tabulated by StatCounter, a private Web analytics service, confirms that Microsoft's new Bing search engine really did capture usage share of US Web users from rival Google, without damaging share numbers for #2 search engine Yahoo. Just how bad was the damage? Bing gained 0.42% usage share in June from predecessor Windows Live's US numbers, while Google's declined by about that much.
Bing's US-based usage share now stands at 8.23%, StatCounter estimates, based on numbers that closed out yesterday, June 30. This compared to Yahoo at 11.04% and Google at 78.48%.
StatCounter's analysts called the event a "positive trend." We put this trend on a little graph for ourselves, and we estimated that if Microsoft were to keep up this trend indefinitely at this rate -- capturing just under half a percent per month from Google -- it could catch up to the American search engine leader in nine years.
From a global perspective, though, the trend doesn't look so predictable: Ever since Bing consolidated the search services of Windows Live and MSN, Bing's global numbers have not consistently outperformed the trend for its two predecessors combined. Only in recent days, Bing has outperformed Windows Live/MSN globally, according to StatCounter's statistics, by about a third of one percent. This while Google's usage share numbers flirt with the 90% mark.
Microsoft finally broke its silence about its Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) — a k a “Morro” — June 18, after refusing for months to provide any real details on its planned free consumer security replacement to Windows Live OneCare.
Alan Packer, General Manager of Microsoft’s Anti-Malware team chatted with me today about MSE. Based on our conversation, here’s what wannabe MSE testers and customers need to know:
MSE provides antivirus and anti-malware protection for Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (including Beta or Release Candidate) systems. It makes use of the same core engine as the Forefront Client product Microsoft offers to businesses, but it doesn’t provide the management capabilities that the paid Forefront Client — or the former Windows Live OneCare subscription offering do.
Microsoft is making MSE available for public beta testing starting some time on June 23. It will be available in 32- and 64-bit flavors, downloadable from the Microsoft Connect site. The test version is targeted at users in English-speaking countries, plus Brazil, Israel (and some time later this year), China (in simplified Chinese).
The beta will remain open until the final version of the MSE product is released before the end of calendar 2009. (Microsoft officials won’t provide any more specific of a date target than that.) The final product will be a free download available directly from Microsoft.com.
Microsoft will be updating and refreshing the beta code regularly in the coming months by pushing updates over Windows Update and other Web mechanisms. MSE isn’t Microsoft-hosted, but it does include a Dynamic Signature updating service that Microsoft is touting as “cloud-based.”
Microsoft plans to offer PC OEMs and system builders the option to bundle MSE on new PCs, but it isn’t expecting any of the big PC makers to jump, since they currently make money by preloading competing, paid offerings from third-party providers.
Speaking of third-party products, MSE will uninstall Windows Defender if it is present on a user’s PC, as MSE is a “superset” of Defender. Upon setup, MSE also will advise users to uninstall other third-party offerings, as running multiple antivirus/anti-malware offerings degrades PC performance.
MSE is aimed first and foremost at users who either can’t or won’t pay for antivirus/anti-malware software. There will be no registration required, no trials with an expiration date or required renewals. But Microsoft is restricting the MSE download (both the beta and final) to PCs running Genuine Windows (which has been authenticated as non-pirated).
Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, wondered whether the Windows Genuine stipulation might prove problematic.
MSE “looks like an adequate protection product, similar to Defender but for more types of malware. However, from early screenshots, it looks like they’re going to require Windows Genuine validation for use,” Rosoff noted. “That seems to undercut their stated goal with the product: to broaden the base of Windows PCs protected against malware, especially in developing countries.”
It’s been a week since Microsoft publicly acknowledged its plan to release a browserless version of Windows 7 that would be sold in Europe only, as a way to potentially appease European antitrust regulators.
Since then, I’ve gotten more than a few reader questions about Windows 7 E — and have come up with a few of my own — and have put them to Microsoft for answers. Here are a few more tidbits about what users and developers can expect from that version of Windows 7, slated to be commercially available on October 22. All of these answers were provided to me via a Microsoft spokesperson.
Q: Is Internet Explorer (IE) really completely gone from Windows with Windows 7 E?
A: No. Microsoft has removed the Web access points provided by IE 8. But the Trident rendering engine is still part of the operating system, as is the HTTP stack and other “core” elements upon which other pieces of the operating system have been built. (I don’t have a full list of what’s in and what’s out from an IE perspective. I’m not sure when and if Microsoft plans to make such a list available.)
Q: According to Microsoft’s official statement on its Web site, Microsoft is claiming applications designed for Windows will run just as well on Win 7 E as on plain old Windows 7. But don’t a number of apps, especially custom/business applications, assume IE is “there”? What happens to these knds of apps if IE isn’t there?
A: The fact that the HTTP stack, rendering engine and other core pieces are all there. That’s what enables everything else to keep on running. You basically just don’t have the executable to be browsing the web with IE.
Q: As a software manufacturer, it is critical for our company to continue having CHM (help file) support built in the OS for our technical documentation. Is that guaranteed?”
A: Microsoft will be sharing more technical details for E with partners so that they can test it with their applications, etc. Last week was just when we were notifying partners of our plans so that they could be able to know and prepare on their end. (I asked Microsoft when and how it plans to share these details and was told the timeframe remains to be determined.)
Q: Windows 7 E will be sold at retail and available installed on new PCs in Europe.But what’s the deal for volume licensees who aren’t necessarily planning to buy Windows 7 through OEMs?
A: Windows 7 E will be the only version of Windows 7 available to volume licensees in Europe. Enterprises usually have their IT departments create a custom image for their organization, where they add their own custom applications on top (business apps, etc.). So they can easily add whatever browser they prefer as part of the roll out that way.
Q: When will European users have a chance to check out a test build of Windows 7 E? Will the final Windows 7 E be released to manufacturing on the same day as regular Windows 7?
A: Still waiting for Microsoft answers to these…. Microsoft isn’t yet ready to provide these answers.
Microsoft has officially unveiled its long-awaited consumer antivirus offering. Formerly code-named “Morro,” it’s now been christened Microsoft Security Essentials, and it will enter public beta testing next week. If you have a licensed copy of Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or above), Windows Vista, or Windows 7, you’ll be able to download and install the software at no additional charge. No subscription is required for ongoing definition updates, either. The final release is scheduled for this fall.
Microsoft Security Essentials requires validation, which means it won’t be available to anyone using a pirated copy of Windows. But it won’t require registration or personal information of any kind.
If you get a sense of deja vu when you see Microsoft Security Essentials, that’s no accident. It’s a pure superset of Microsoft’s antispyware product, Windows Defender, which was publicly released nearly three years ago and is included by default with Windows Vista and Windows 7. Microsoft Security Essentials adds antivirus protection—both real-time protection and on-demand scanning—to the mix. It shares the same engine and signatures as other Microsoft antimalware products, including the enterprise-focused Forefront and the monthly Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool.
Microsoft says the program is, not surprisingly, Windows Logo Certified and updates its virus and spyware signatures daily through Microsoft Update. New signatures are published three times a day, which means that clients will never get a new update that is less than eight hours old. The core antimalware engine, with new features and bug fixes, is scheduled for updates on a monthly basis. If Automatic Update is enabled, this process will be completely transparent to the user, Microsoft claims.
Like most modern antivirus software, MSE relies on up-to-date signatures, but adds its own cloud-based twists. Contrary to some recent reports, this isn’t a cloud-based service. Instead, it offers a dynamic signature service that pushes signatures on a daily basis, but adds the ability to query the signature service when need to reduce the window of exposure to new malware. By monitoring for suspicious behavior, the service can query for a sample when necessary. Rootkit detection features target kernel-mode malware and can detect the sort of tampering in the kernel that is typical of rootkits.
How good is the coverage? Microsoft scored dismal test results in the early days of OneCare, hitting a nadir in 2007, but its record has improved dramatically since. A new study (May 2009) by the independent AV-Comparatives group gave Microsoft OneCare (which shares the same engine and signatures as MSE) its highest (Advanced+) rating. Only 3 of the 16 products in the test earned that rating. Microsoft’s technology scored second in the accuracy ratings, behind AVIRA but ahead of AVG, Symantec, McAfee, and a dozen other products. And on the crucial measure of delivering the fewest false positives, Microsoft stood far ahead of the pack, delivering the fewest false positives of any program tested.
In the most recent round of tests from the independent ICSA Labs, Microsoft’s technology passed, while McAfee’s VirusScan family joined several smaller competitors on the FAIL list.
Yesterday Neowin exclusively revealed Microsoft Morro to the world, today we can unveil that Microsoft's new and free Anti-Virus will be named Microsoft Security Essentials.
The software product, codenamed "Morro" after a beach in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is already being tested by Microsoft employees and a trial version will be made available in September according to sources familiar with Microsoft's plans. Microsoft has officially stated that Microsoft Security Essentials would be available by the end of 2009 at the latest. The company has been trialing internal versions since June 1.
Yesterday we unveiled three screen shots of an old alpha build but we can unveil an updated build today with the Microsoft Security Essentials branding. Security essentials is likely to be targeted as a basic form of Anti-Virus and not as a "suite" like rival Anti-Virus companies such as Symantec and McAfee offer. An installer of the new build leaked last night and we have included a couple of screen shots below. We will have a full review of Security Essentials soon.
Main Menu
The latest usage share data tabulated by StatCounter, a private Web analytics service, confirms that Microsoft's new Bing search engine really did capture usage share of US Web users from rival Google, without damaging share numbers for #2 search engine Yahoo. Just how bad was the damage? Bing gained 0.42% usage share in June from predecessor Windows Live's US numbers, while Google's declined by about that much.
Microsoft finally broke its silence about its Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) — a k a “Morro” — June 18, after refusing for months to provide any real details on its planned free consumer security replacement to Windows Live OneCare.
Yesterday Neowin exclusively revealed Microsoft Morro to the world, today we can unveil that Microsoft's new and free Anti-Virus will be named Microsoft Security Essentials.
