Symantec AV to go online

Symantec is to begin supplying its consumer applications such as Norton Antivirus and Norton Utilities as a service online, reports News.Com

Symantec says as broadband becomes ubiquitous and consumers get used to purchasing software online, security services and even PC utilities could be sold as a service.

Another benefit of delivering security features such as virus scanning online is that the size of antivirus applications on desktops will become smaller.

The IEEE has formally ratified the mobile version of the WiMax wireless broadband system as a standard.

The Register says the new 802.16e mobile standard officially extends the already ratified 802.11d specification, which details connections between fixed locations. The 802.16e standard allows a base-station to communicate with a moving device.

Although the two versions of WiMax are not compatible, both are expected to be ultimately implemented in dual-mode base-stations, allowing a single antenna to talk to transceivers mounted on the side of buildings and to mobile devices.

Microsoft plans to release a beta of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP available to the general public within the next four months, reports News.Com.

The new version of IE is expected to include several changes, including tighter security and tabbed browsing.

The first beta of IE 7 was launched in July to MS staff and chosen beta testers, but now MS wants feedback from the public on how it works on their Web sites and applications outside the current intranet testing environment.

The Mozilla Firefox Web browser is reportedly gaining ground on Microsoft`s Internet Explorer browser, which Redmond Mag attributes to the attention surrounding the release last month of Firefox 1.5.

However, the report notes that Firefox`s gains are still only in fractions of percentage points, with the November 2005 browser numbers indicating that Firefox had reached an 8.84% share of the market, while the numbers for Internet Explorer slipped by nearly half a point during the month to 86.08%

Yahoo has released in beta an online service that lets registered users post and answer questions, which Information Week says brings a more human element to Web searching.

Yahoo Answers is designed to compete with the rival Google Answers offering and complement Yahoo`s standard search engine by enabling users to ask questions and receive answers based on the collective knowledge of other Yahoo subscribers.

Yahoo says the service addresses the need for answers to everyday question that can`t be easily handled through keyword searches.