Part VI: Firefox as a Virus ?
About a week ago, Microsoft launched the re-branded AntiSpyware product, recently acquired from Giant.
Mere Internet moments later, a screen shot began circulating on Slashdot and elsewhere. The screenshot depicted Microsoft's AntiSpyware program identifying Mozilla FireFox as spyware. Firefox was labeled "vulnerable to a lack of security updates" and "...is a very high risk thread and should be removed immediately."
It's a fake, but the picture is a damn good hoax.
The reason it's interesting is that in order for a hoax to be effective, it has to be close enough to what people already believe, or think they believe. (And for that reason, the hoax is continuing to be perpetrated, across various gullible news sites.)
That's the dangerous thing for MS in the current environment. Anything they do is immediately seen as suspicious. That's a very bad thing for a company that depends on the general public buying their wares.
If, for example, the company sold only to corporations, the general public's perception wouldn't matter. But MS sells to Joe Schmoe, and his grandma too. And if these average consumers stop believing, the game is over.
(For further proof of the damage a general animus can do to Microsoft, take a look at the UK MS licensing spoof this week.)
Mere Internet moments later, a screen shot began circulating on Slashdot and elsewhere. The screenshot depicted Microsoft's AntiSpyware program identifying Mozilla FireFox as spyware. Firefox was labeled "vulnerable to a lack of security updates" and "...is a very high risk thread and should be removed immediately."
It's a fake, but the picture is a damn good hoax.
The reason it's interesting is that in order for a hoax to be effective, it has to be close enough to what people already believe, or think they believe. (And for that reason, the hoax is continuing to be perpetrated, across various gullible news sites.)
That's the dangerous thing for MS in the current environment. Anything they do is immediately seen as suspicious. That's a very bad thing for a company that depends on the general public buying their wares.
If, for example, the company sold only to corporations, the general public's perception wouldn't matter. But MS sells to Joe Schmoe, and his grandma too. And if these average consumers stop believing, the game is over.
(For further proof of the damage a general animus can do to Microsoft, take a look at the UK MS licensing spoof this week.)
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