Norton 360 - Microsoft's new competitor for OneCare

Yesterday (May 31), Symantec officially launched a trial of PC Genesis security and optimization application.

Last February, Symantec announced plans to develop a new security software code-named Genesis, fully integrating Symantec's existing security, PC optimization and backup technology components.

Symantec's latest move is seen as a counter to Microsoft officially releasing Windows Live OneCare online security and optimization services and McAfee's 'Falcon' product.

The developer said testing of the new security application will last the summer of this year. It is expected that this software will be officially launched in March 2007. So it was late compared to the previous plan. Symantec is expected to release the official version of this software in September this year. However, this deadline has been pushed back to next year.

Also yesterday, along with the release of a new product, Symantec also announced the renaming of Genesis to Norton 360.

Norton 360 is part of the vision of the next generation of online security products - Security 2.0. When officially released Norton 360 will be offered on a global scale, compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Hoang Dung