Are small-business and home users ready to sign up for subscription-based security services from Microsoft Corp.?

Next week, on February 6, Microsoft is officially ending the testing phase of its "PC Satisfaction Trial." But the company is still refusing to say how, when and if it will go live with the various security services it has been testing.

Some PC Satisfaction testers have speculated the services will be rolled into Longhorn; others think they could debut in a future release of MSN.

Microsoft's PC Satisfaction Trial was designed to test Microsoft and third-party anti-virus, firewall, backup and PC-health-monitoring services. Sources said that Microsoft was testing whether these kinds of security services—when provided as hosted, managed services—would appeal to typically less-security-savvy small-business and consumer customers. These customers, who seldom have strong IT departments at their beck and call, are typically the ones hurt worst by worms and viruses like MyDoom, Blaster, SoBig and the like.

By Mary Jo Foley at ExtremeTech.

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