Over on Security Curve’s posting about the recent McAfee and Symantec brouhaha with Microsoft’s PatchGuard, Symantec’s VP of Engineering, Rowan Trollope, provides further details on the Symantec position on PatchGuard (see the comments section). His comments are interesting.

As far as I can tell, he is mad at Microsoft for not being "fair" by allowing Symantec to use a non-existent interface for competitive advantage. Not sure why he would call MS out on how its fairness is hampering Symantec’s ability to be, um, "unfair" at least to whatever extent this argument is even valid. (He even ups the ante suggesting that "well-known security vendors" should be given preference.

People have been complaining about MS security for years. We finally get MS moving in the right direction and now that is a problem? [Vista will be a great litmus test for whether they really care enough to put their money where their mouths are (there is very little else new to Vista). ]

I don’t see how they can win the PR battle on this one. Ed’s post provides the details and this one by Ross Brown of eEye provides a better way to think about the problem.

In his second comment on the Security Curve post (I believe he has the second and fourth comments, though the second one is not specifically identified), Rowan suggests that this problem will "chill" innovation. I guess that is just a matter of perspective – some might suggest that this situation is a perfect opportunity for a company like Symantec to show a little innovation.