By now many of you have heard that Microsoft is preparing to release a free version of anti-virus sometime in the near future (they call it Morro for now), and we are always asked what we think and does it make us nervous.

No doubt this free version will be a diluted version of their previous attempt to seriously enter the security marketing with Live OneCare. But taking a security product that couldn't survive in the commercial world and turning it into a free product doesn't mean that the technology and methodology behind the security protection and detection is going to be better. That is what worries us.

This is our anniversary year, which means we've been doing this for 10 years now. And we started out with a free Ad-Aware version for anti-spyware (please don't forget we were the first to market), which meant that was the starting point for our detection technology - and it had to be good even in the freeware in order to survive in what is now a multi-billion dollar industry. Our Plus and Pro versions offer more user-friendly features, a higher level of control for savvy computer users, and multi-layered levels of protection to tackle tricky malware including various forms of rootkits, but the core detection technology in Ad-Aware Free is the same as Plus and Pro.

In summary, we're not worried. We're excited to see what they bring out - and we hope they are thinking about the consumer.