Reporting from RSA Conference 2008, Matt Hines writes that Microsoft’s “growing array of security tools is maturing quickly, and its burgeoning security business should be taken seriously by major rivals, including Symantec and McAfee, according to analysts.”Microsoft on Tuesday unwrapped a beta of Stirling, its forthcoming package of integration and management tools aimed at helping administrators gain firmer top-down control of their IT security infrastructure. Stirling marks the first opportunity for companies to begin driving their systems defense strategy using Microsoft technologies, company executives said in Microsoft security maturing fast. Microsoft’s security rivals, however, claim that the company’s biggest selling point is also its greatest weakness. In addition to the level of concern that most customers harbor about trusting the software maker to protect its OS, desktop, and infrastructure technologies — especially in light of the security vulnerabilities frequently found in all of those products — Microsoft’s technologies don’t address one of the biggest complexities of today’s IT environment: heterogeneity, said John Thompson, chief executive of Symantec. Are you ready to take Microsoft’s security seriously yet? Talkback below. Security