Intel to Buy McAfee for $7.68 Billion

Met-AL said:
We are a McAffe shop too... thousand's of users on it. Talk about bringing a Pentium 4 to it's knees. Thankfully I got upgraded to a new Pentium Dual Core workstation and my loathing of McAffe has subsided, but's it's crazy how much of a CPU that thing sucks down.

I traced McAffe's problem for us to when Windows Updates checks for updates, it has a catalog of .cab files in a cache folder, when Windows Updates reads those files, McAffe trips out and pegs out it's CPU for a couple of minutes. If you try to do a simple copy and paste of those .cab files, it will do the same thing and take hours to copy them.
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Yeah I wonder who's bright idea was it to make that transparent firewall prompt covering the entire bottom half of the screen when it detects software wanting to go out on the internet. They put that transparency thing in an update about a half a year ago and it almost killed all of our older laptops.

I guess the only good thing about this was I was able to use this as an example why we needed to buy new laptops for some of the employees who were using Celerons and P4's. lol
 
I still have a Compaq laptop in my lab, but I'm afraid to turn it on because of all the updates and crap it'll have to do. lol
 
Heh, my first reaction was "oh good, maybe they will just shut that piece of shit software down and we won't have to deal with it any more"
 
So now a behemoth like Intel has a financial incentive to keep viruses/malware around forever? Great.
 
Dosobye said:
This is how skynet starts, with a CPU company and a virus company
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Now Intel and Google need to merge and it will truly be Skynet. :) All jokes aside, maybe Intel can actually improve an antivirus. I wouldn't pay for it though, they'd have to at least come out with a free version for me to use it, which they probably won't do.
 
EvilWays said:
Antivirus engine on CPU die with the definition database either on the HDD or dedicated flash on mobo? Sounds good for those with more malware/spyware/virii/whatever else than actual OS on their system.
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Sounds good to be exploited and hijacked for malicious purposes.
 
Good, maybe they can finally make a product that doesn't use 300MB of RAM and 26% of the CPU cycles. Ok, so I exaggerated a little, problem is only a little.
 
Most assuredly one of those what the fuck were they thinking moments. :confused:
 
I've been thinking about any possible rationale for doing this all day and the only thing I could come up with is that Intel wanted to buy the most bloated, resource consuming AV possible to give people a reason to buy faster processors :D
 
a 60% premium over the closing price is just plain stupid IMO. In an economy where nothing is for certain now more so than ever before, they're going to piss out billions more than necessary for a company who has no real correlation to the bottom line needs.

There has to be something there we aren't seeing that Intel plans on doing. Why it was necessary to buy McAfee to do so I dunno, I mean a partnership would have been much more sensible if there is something they want to do hardware IC based for some kind of virus security.

Its either that, or someone at Intel loves the blowjobs that someone at McAfee gives.
 
Smart move Intel.

Dave Dewalt.. also smart move. You'll get your payday yet.

Here is what is going on in my personal observation as a x McAfee enterprise support technician.

McAfee has been padding there numbers ever since Dave joined up. Making a profit by treating employees like dirt. Buying companies to cover losses. And mostly buying up IP and protecting it vigorously.

Without IP McAfee is worth nothing. (That is Intellectual Property.)

They over the past several years purchased several companies that have unique hardware level IP.

Intel I am SURE (but guessing.) approached McAfee and said we want to license your IP.

McAfee rather intelligently said.(if you want a big payday as an exec or large share holder.) Our IP is not for sale or rent.

Intel thought about it as McAfee employed there very best talent. Finding innovative security hardware companies and buying them. Just about every possible purchase of a small time hardware security company was made. Even introducing debt to McAfee so they could buy at an accelerated pace.

Well job done. Now Intel wants to maintain the roadmap of development and think ahead of the curve. They need access to the Patents and IP that McAfee owns. Soooo in the long run they buy McAfee.

Intel gets to bring in the hardware and services side of the organization. Gets to own ALL of the McAfee IP. and in a year or so can either let the AV portion of McAfee sink or swim on the free market and really not give a shit one way or the other.

Who it sucks for is guys like me who are current (or in my past would have been) employees of McAfee. They are going to get shafted all the way to the bank.

That is just my opinion mind you. I could be wrong.
 
BallerX said:
Azhar, you really think Norton improved? When is the last time you used it. The last time I found it on a PC, that machine was infected to all hell and back. Not that any anti virus will save you if you are an idiot. I find Spybot S&D prevents a lot more crap than Norton and it doesn't even live scan.
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I've been using the NAV Corporate for a while now and it has done a pretty good job keeping all computers in my household clean. No AV software is perfect, and nowadays what really sets them apart is resource demand and stability rather than protection quality. In that regard Norton has improved a lot. No AV software provides particularly great protection against malware such as browser hijackers/fake AV, etc, but they all do a fairly good job keeping the more severe threats such as trojans and downloaders away. Running Spybot S&D alongside a traditional AV is a good idea.
 
Everyone is focusing on the consumer AV but I think this will have more impact on network based security. Cisco probably stiffened up with this announcement.
 
BallerX said:
Azhar, you really think Norton improved? When is the last time you used it. The last time I found it on a PC, that machine was infected to all hell and back. Not that any anti virus will save you if you are an idiot. I find Spybot S&D prevents a lot more crap than Norton and it doesn't even live scan.
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Monkey God said:
HAHA

....deep breath......



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA
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have you check the tests on av-comparatives......
 
MRAB54 said:
Everyone is focusing on the consumer AV but I think this will have more impact on network based security. Cisco probably stiffened up with this announcement.
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I understand they have a fairly big pressence there too, but it still doesn't make sense with their core business. Grimlaking's post actually makes a lot of sense if McAfee had a lot of hardware IP they were sitting on that Intel wanted. Look at some of the massive IP settlements lately and its not too hard to figure out in some cases it's less painful to just buy the company than deal with licensing or potential lawsuits.
 
Gee whiz, I wasn't even looking for yet another reason to ever again knowingly purchase anything from Intel. TYVM, Intel!
 
Saw this on Reddit. Too "Makes me go HMMMMM" to not repost. Curious if it's ultimately BS or not.

imbcmdth 59 points60 points61 points 3 hours ago* [-] (68|10)

It seems that a lot of people are saying, "IT MAKES NO SENSE!"

A few years ago, Intel announced that they were making their own OS based on the Linux kernel. This is important.

What do you get when you combine multicore chips with powerful virtualization, linux, and some security software?

You get an anti-virus/security system that runs BELOW the operating system because it runs inside of a secure virtual machine host. It might even be tied to a core so that your 8-core PC looks like a 7-core secure computer in Windows.

The security software will be in encrypted flash on the motherboard and run at boot. The software will have exclusive access to every device in the system. Since your OS will just have drivers sitting on top of the virtual devices, the secure hypervisor is free to completely sanitize every byte that enters or leaves a system.

This also points to the real reason for this purchase:

AMD's extensions to x86 for virtualization are incompatible with Intel's. If McAfee were creating a revolutionary hypervisor based security suite, it would be in Intel's best interests to ensure that it supports only Intel-style virtualization rather than both.
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This is just weird. I don't know about them adding anything to a CPU but maybe to a chipset. I think Grimlaking is probably close with his IP rights argument.

As a McAfee user I could care less. I have the business version with a perpetual license, and will probably be switching over to MSE whenever I'm not lazy enough to try and clear it out of my system.
 
Worst business decision I've ever seen Intel make. McAfee is a bloated, resource hogging piece of crap. Not worth the 60% premium Intel is going to pay.
 
That must be why I'm not rich from business dealings - Intel must know something I don't.
The only way I'd pay anything for McAfee is just for the pleasure of burning their buildings to the ground. Worst piece of shit, bloated, resource hogging AV software EVER.
 
Great, so now Microsoft Security Essentials is going to miss everything and eat up every last resource we have?
 
Azhar said:
Well some of you guys might think Intel's being dumb, but I see Intel being smart. We know McAfee is junk, but regardless of what we think, McAfee is a household name and Intel's going to get filthy rich off it. Hopefully Intel can turn McAfee around like Norton improved themselves in 2009.
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I'm thinking this or for the IP they might hold.
 
Dosobye said:
This is how skynet starts, with a CPU company and a virus company
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QFT!

This does not make business sense. I mean M$ has there security essentials which I have seen a lot of people using it lately.
 
Anyways, they probably want to start embedding AV into their cpu's so they are buying up the biggest AV company they can.
 
8000 million dollars? rofl ,.. i wouldn't buy m/fee for a penny it sucks. eset ftw
 
Azhar said:
Yeah I wonder who's bright idea was it to make that transparent firewall prompt covering the entire bottom half of the screen when it detects software wanting to go out on the internet. They put that transparency thing in an update about a half a year ago and it almost killed all of our older laptops.

I guess the only good thing about this was I was able to use this as an example why we needed to buy new laptops for some of the employees who were using Celerons and P4's. lol
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We don't have any of that, our McAffe is the corp version, not frills, just scans the hell out of everything coming and going. Firewall is still just the Windows firewall and our network is nailed down tight, all traffic from our 160 locations goes through a single portal in our corporate IT location via leased dedicated T1 lines from AT&T.
 
Met-AL said:
We don't have any of that, our McAffe is the corp version, not frills, just scans the hell out of everything coming and going. Firewall is still just the Windows firewall and our network is nailed down tight, all traffic from our 160 locations goes through a single portal in our corporate IT location via leased dedicated T1 lines from AT&T.
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Ah ok. The one we had was controlled via a control panel on McAfee's site, not my servers. Using their control panel I can remotely install and remove and upgrade everyone's software. I can also determine if their computers are infected or not, and how they got infected. In the screenshot below you'll see that the licenses aren't activated because it expired a while ago. I can still access the CP, but not add users anymore until we renew. Ain't gonna happen :-P

mcafeecp.jpg
 
I don't think this is a hugely bad idea. Being able to provide a complete platform with built-in protection can be a sweet deal for some. Getting a cpu, gpu, mobo, chipset, and host protection. Why not?
 
what the fuck is right.

mcafee is the worst bloatware I have ever used

it's an unoptimized piece of shit
 
I don't get it, this is the absolute worst anti-virus on the market, the last time I've heard good reviews about McAfee was back in the Windows 98 era. What on earth is Intel thinking? They make so much money they can just toss 7+ billion dollars into the trash bin? I don't get what value this will net them. Last review of McAfee on effectiveness that I remember seeing was 16% effective against current infections.
 
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