We got your fix, right here.

Expressing sympathy for Windows users often falls upon deaf ears. Mostly this is because many Windows users don't have much experience with anything other than Windows. The blue screen of death, rebooting every few hours and keeping constantly apprised of the latest security threats are just part of every day life for these afflicted souls. Microsoft is constantly battling security problems, largely of their own making, although it is the beleaguered user that pays the price, both in time and in the cost of constantly updated virus detection software.

But Microsoft's latest move is truly cheeky and, since I don't have to deal with it, rather amusing. Microsoft has recently announced that they are moving into the lucrative market of antivirus/anti-spyware, a field that has been mostly the creation of Microsoft's oft-maligned operating system. For $50/year, Windows users can subscribe to OneCare, a service that offers Microsoft's security protection against all the vulnerabilities that Microsoft's other product, Windows, provides to its users free of charge.

How's that for a deal: buy MS Windows and then buy MS security that didn't come with Windows in the first place. Sounds like a cash cow to me. If people start buying this service, Microsoft will certainly have no motivation to ever improve the security of their OS, not that they've ever appeared overly concerned with doing so anyway. In fact, if sales of OneCare are brisk enough, MS might just decide to make the situation within Windows even worse. But then, I'm always imputing nefarious motives to MS.

Will it occur to Windows users that the fix is in by not having the fix in?