Microsoft and its security rivals are feuding over a key piece of Windows Vista real estate.
The fight is over the display of technology that helps Vista owners manage the security tools on their PC.
Symantec, McAfee, Check Point Software Technologies and other companies want Microsoft to change Vista so their products can easily replace the operating system's built-in Windows Security Center on the desktop. But Microsoft is resisting the call.
"By imposing the Windows Security Center on all Windows users, Microsoft is defining a template through which everybody looks at security," Bruce McCorkendale, a chief engineer at Symantec, said in an interview.
"How do we trust that Microsoft knows what all the important things about security are to warn users about?"
Windows Security Center, introduced with Windows XP Service Pack 2, pops up on desktops to alert PC owners if their firewall, virus protection and other security tools need attention.
The version in the Vista update, set for broad release in January, will add new categories and management tools.
It is possible to run third-party security consoles in Vista, said Stephen Toulouse, a program manager in Microsoft's Security Technology Unit.
However, people have to manually disable the Windows Security Center if they don't want to use it. And the software giant has no plans to give other companies the ability to turn off the Windows Security Center, Toulouse noted.
"Our main concern is to provide customers with a fall-back option if there is no other security centre running," he said.
If the differences aren't worked out, it could spell annoyance for consumers, the rival security companies say.
People who choose to use Microsoft's console alone will get a limited view of their Vista PC protection, they suggest.
Those who buy competing software will have to run it alongside Microsoft's dashboard, which could report conflicting information.
Rivals have charged that the software giant is hurting consumers, raising the spectre of more antitrust complaints for Microsoft.
"Microsoft's Windows Security Center demonstrates fairly limited sophistication, and having (it) control the console could take away the consumer's visibility into the threats he faces," said Siobhan MacDermott, a spokeswoman for McAfee.
"Ultimately, it's something the consumer should decide, not Microsoft."
