OneCare Going Away; Microsoft Offering Free Security Starting July 1, 2009

Well, this is certainly a surprising but welcome announcement from the Microsoft OneCare team...

Consumer Security Strategy Update

In hopes of getting more consumers protected, this week, Microsoft announced that it will offer a new security solution to consumers at no cost beginning in the second half of calendar year 2009. This new offering will focus on getting the majority of consumers the essential protection they need by providing comprehensive, real-time anti-malware protection, covering such threats as viruses, spyware, rootkits, trojans, and other emerging threats, in a single, focused solution.

IMHO: It is about time! Security shouldn't be an add-on product for Windows. Security should be part of Windows. This still won't be the case. But, at least Windows users will not have to pay an annual security tax starting next summer.