Standing Guard on Software's Next Frontier

A new report suggests that security software heavyweights like McAfee (MFE Quote) and Symantec (SYMC Quote) can take pleasure in the looming debut of Microsoft's (MSFT Quote) Vista operating system.

But smaller third-party software vendors may have a bumpy road ahead.

"There's been this little problem with security on the Windows platform forever," says Andrew Jaquith, a security industry analyst with the Yankee Group, and author of the report. One of the key goals for Vista -- the company's first major update to its OS in five years -- is to increase security, to "make it less of what it has been, which is a breeding ground for malware, spyware and other problems." ...