Bill Gates today at the RSA Convention announced that Microsoft would release there AntiSpyware product, that is now in BETA, as a free product to Windows users. He hinted though that to use the product you would need to pass a test that would check to see if you had a legal copy of Windows.
He also announced that a public BETA of Internet Explorer 7 would be released in the summer of this year to users of Windows XP Service Pack 2. The product promises to focus on security and productivity, like tabbed browsing. Up until now it has been thought that Internet Explorer 7 would be an exclusive to Windows Longhorn, but this seems like they have changed that plan.
Another announcement was of the new Microsoft Update that will replace both Office and Windows Updates so that all Microsoft products could use a single update service, this is expected to enter BETA in March. In terms of AntiVirus products, Gates said once the recently announced deal to acquire Sybari is closed Microsoft will ship a new anti-virus scanning engine based on the acquired GeCAD technology as part of Sybari's Antigen solution. More to come...
