Anti-virus built in to XP SP2?

As Dana pointed out, this is an interesting article about Microsoft adding a built-in virus scanner to Windows XP SP2. I’m torn, obviously. On one hand, for all those home users who never seem to be able to use AV properly, maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. Although many still won’t remember to update it, is it going to be automatically self-updating? If so, is that necessarily a good thing? I can see arguments either way. On the other, is it going to be like the firewall or zip utility that’s built in to XP now, where they aren’t as good as other products on the market? And is that going to force out the better products?

I also need more information on these incompatibilities with SP2 and other AV products. There’s no way the built-in virus scanner could replace all the functionality I get from Symantec Corporate Edition, but if Symantec won’t even work with SP2, I’m not going to be installing the service pack to begin with until that’s fixed. I get the feeling this is going to bear keeping a close eye on over the next few weeks and months.

Update: Some more links Re: SP2 details.

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