Microsoft Security Essentials, however, will be available only for the genuine Windows users. It can be installed on PCs running original Windows XP, Vista and Win 7 operating systems.
"Microsoft Security Essentials will check if the operating system is genuine before proceeding with the actual installation of the programme," says Rishi Srivastava, consumer and online marketing officer, Microsoft India. He adds that the company is not looking to woo enterprise customers with MSE.
The competition, however, is unfazed. Alex Gnatusin of Kaspersky Lab, an internet security company, opines that "Whether or not anti-virus protection is free is not the main factor when purchasing an anti-virus solution today. The choice of a product or service in the information security sphere comes down to how much the customer trusts one vendor over another with his data."
Gaurav Kanwal, country sales manager (Consumer Products & Solutions), Symantec, concurs: "Microsoft Security Essentials is a point solutions and gives consumers a false sense of security. It renders very basic protection which is not adequate, and is not capable of protecting consumers from today's malware. It will be more dangerous and risky for consumers to rely on it."
Meanwhile, top-tier PC makers like HP and Dell will not be bundling MSE with their computers since they are paid by anti-virus vendors to include trial or limited-time versions of their products.