Microsoft has purchased Giant Company Software, a small anti-spyware software company it hopes will shore up its security defenses.Microsoft declined to say how much it paid for the 10-person company. However, the company plans to use Giant’s technology to give Windows customers a new tool to detect spyware running on Windows systems, said Gordon Mangione, corporate vice president of security products, according to IDG News Service. Microsoft plans to release a free evaluation version of the software within a month that will run on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems, Mangione said. The company will use that beta software release to collect and evaluate customer feedback on the product, and make decisions about how it wants to distribute Giant AntiSpyware in the future, he said. Microsoft will take over support of Giant’s AntiSpyware and Giant’s other products, including Spam Inspector and Popup Inspector. The company has not decided how much, or even if, it will charge for Giant An-tiSpyware, or whether the software will be bundled with future versions of Win-dows, Mangione said. “We’re still figuring out what to do and how to make the technology available to customers. There are lots of options,” he said. Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, said he expected Giant’s anti-spyware to bundled with Longhorn, a forthcoming version of Windows. Microsoft has had serious difficulties enforcing security, said Jonathan Eunice, principal analyst with Illuminata. “Their problems have to do with fundamental architecture points about the way Windows is designed,” he said. “Fundamentally, Microsoft is chasing the problem instead of out in front of it.”As pests, spyware, and other malicious applications infiltrate corporate com-puters with greater frequency, some vendors, including McAfee and Computer Associates are bundling anti-spyware into security management suites, giving IT more tools to control the hazard. Legal questions were raised late Thursday about the deal as Sunbelt Software, a part-owner of Giant’s AntiSpyware software, said it has exclusive rights over elements of the technology, including the ability to offer SDKs (software devel-oper’s kits) for Giant AntiSpyware technology. That could make it difficult for Microsoft to integrate Giant technology with other products. However, Microsoft said in a statement: “We understand that Giant granted a co-ownership right to Sunbelt concerning an earlier version of Giant’s anti-spyware software product. However, the granting of that right to Sunbelt does not constrain either party from innovating and developing new products that are based on that earlier version.” Technology Industry