Vista secures new enemies

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Microsoft Corp. is no stranger to antitrust skirmishes and complaints from rivals about unfair business practices.

But the latest fight over its coming Vista operating system pits Microsoft against an unlikely adversary: the security-software vendors that are some of its most intimate partners in protecting its notoriously vulnerable systems from attacks.

As Vista's planned release nears, the company is facing a backlash from such vendors as Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc., which argue that even the concessions Microsoft recently made to appease European antitrust regulators won't do enough to help them best protect their customers.