Outgoing Windows development chief Jim Allchin has apologised for the confusion he created in comments taken to mean Vista was so secure it might be possible to run the software without any anti-virus installed.

Responding to questions from reporters about whether Vista would be more secure than Windows XP SP2, Allchin said his seven-year-old son runs a Vista PC (locked down with parental controls and no IM or email) without anti-virus protection.

The comments were taken to mean that Allchin reckoned that improved security features in Vista - such as Patchguard and ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomisation, a feature that means the system kernel is loaded differently on each Vista machine - would make anti-virus protection obsolete.

Not so.

Allchin said his comments, which if true would decimate the software security market and make Microsoft's own OneCare service redundant, had been taken out of context and misinterpreted.

"After reading the transcript, I could certainly see that what I said wasn't as clear as it could have been, and I'm sorry for that. However, it is also clear from the transcript that I didn't say that users shouldn't run anti-virus software with Windows Vista! In fact, later in the call, I explicitly made this point again, because I had realised I wasn't as clear as I should have been," Allchin writes in a posting (http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2006/11/10/windows-vista-defense-in-depth.aspx) to the Windows Vista blog.

Allchin returns to the standard Microsoft line that even though XP Vista is the most secure operating system Redmond has ever produced, users would still need additional security software.

"Most users will use some form of anti-virus software, and that will be appropriate for their scenarios," he writes. ®

Related stories

Rivals dismiss MS Forefront security push (3 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/03/ms_forefront/
IE ripe for attack, despite Microsoft claims (1 February 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/01/windows_vista_security/
Vista and British Library put da Vinci online (30 January 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/30/vinci_notebooks_vista/
Christmas shopping: Vista over XP? (6 December 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/06/vista_or_xp/
Microsoft's field of dreams (30 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/30/vista_highbury/
Analysts look both ways at Vista (28 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/28/windows_vista_anlayst_predictions/
Vista released: PC sales drop? Dealers blamed! (18 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/18/reseller_vista_sales_boasts/
Longhorn Ahoy! (15 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/15/microsoft_longhorn_server/
Microsoft rallies friends and former foes for Interop Alliance (15 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/15/microsoft_interop_alliance/
Security rivals tried to 'castrate' Vista - Gates (10 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/10/vista_castration_averted/
Allchin rallies the Windows Vista troops (9 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/09/vista_allchin_email/
January 30: Window Vista's date with destiny (8 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/08/windows_vista_allchin/
Vista delayed by 18,000 years (1 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/01/vista_delayed_until_20007/
Microsoft services chief to spend more time with his family (12 October 2006)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/10/12/devenuti_microsoft/
Allchin peers into crystal ball, sees Windows Vista future (21 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/21/allchin_windows_vista/