Why Intel bought McAfee

Their motivation makes a lot of sense. But why did they settle for McAfee where there are so many better companies/technologies around - e.g. G-Data.

That is a very good question.

whs said:

Their motivation makes a lot of sense. But why did they settle for McAfee where there are so many better companies/technologies around - e.g. G-Data.

Money?

~Lordbob

McAfee, dispite how crappy the product is, does have a large user base. They currently have a deal with Dell where all new PCs from them have McAfee preinstalled, with no option not to have it one there, even when custom ordered (except businesses of course). I'm sure other OEMs have similar deals with them. Several businesses and school use McAfee. So the user base and price combined probably made McAfee the best deal.

Maybe they bought it for 1$.

If they are serious about trying to incorporate some anti-virus technology into the hardware and vPro for consumers. This could be a good thing. It all depends on how it all pans out and if they have the right people that can develop a strong reliable product out of it.

Consumer side vPro could be HUGE for a lot of reasons.
But it could also be BAD for a lot of reasons.
It all depends on how it gets incorporated and the big time security needed for it on that level.

McAfee could be to hardware, what MSE is to Windows.
And if you can stop threats at the Hardware level, would it be then that a software based only AV not be needed? at all?

It was more of a random thought. While this is all speculation at this time, there is no telling if software av will be needed or not.

It could be a bios type update to the chip to update definitions on a regular basis.
I still think, if you can stop and clean viruses at the hardware level, then honestly, I don't see how SW AV would ever be needed, cause it won't be allowed to execute.

Granted, people will always find a way around security. The only 100% secure PC is one that is not used.
Even Root Kits are now possible on a 64bit Windows OS. And they hook into the MBR to do it. So, I would think that hardware based AV might prevent this type of activity?

I am guessing/speculating and not stating fact.

McAffe has a very large following even with the bad things we know of for a long time. It still has a very large market share. Intel is looking forward. The things that come to mind to me is mobile and cloud computing. It is probably the biggest up coming market and they want to be there. If a company can build in security where the consumer doesn't have to do anything a company will grab large market share. I IMHO think they made a great move that will pay off long term. The bad reputation McAffe has got in the last few years will go away with improving the product and the name McAffe will slip away. Intel wants a big heads up on mobile and cloud computing security. McAffe with changes will give them that.