A security service from Microsoft? That's the reaction, we had from our staffers when we broke that news. But, come June 2006, and you can subscribe to the new security service from Microsoft,  which claims to keep your PC protected from viruses, and provide data backup services for $49.95 a year.

That's interesting not because it's cheap, or is very similar to what Apple users have had with the ".Mac" and the "iDisk" services for a long time, but because it comes from Microsoft, a company that doesn't have a particulary very good reputation in the industry for handling security issues. Especially with security patches, which don't get released for months after a security loophole is discovered.

Should you subscribe? Only if Microsoft gets you patches faster. Otherwise you always have AVG, the free anti-virus scanner and tons of 'free' data backup services from Web 2.0 companies. Yes, the Microsoft service will more tightly integrated with Windows, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be better (hint, look at Firefox - the browser from Mozilla).  We would love to hear your comments, and you can vote too.