Paying for Bug/Virus/Spyware Protection?
This Week in Tech ep. 26 is out and as always has great tech discussions between Leo Laporte, John C. Dvorak and the guys. One interesting point they discuss is the proposition that software companies should move to a subscription business model where the user pays for additional protection from spyware and viruses. John goes into further detail in his latest PC Mag article, where he says that selling an extra protection services is a conflict of interest when you are paying for the product in the first place, as is the case with Windows. I tend to agree - probably the best system would be more open and rely on more efficient delivery to the end user.
Update: Another issue here is providing an effective update service that protects the user from virus writers. I heard about a patch that was released by Microsoft, and within days virus writers had reverse engineered the bug using the patch and then used it to launch a new virus. Obviously the issue is not a simple one, but charging is not the best way to go about it.