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#450
That is the list I was going to provide the Count...As you can see, it is accurate up to June 2017, and neither Norton's nor Symantec is listed--Microsoft owns no stakes in Symantec, either. It's possible that way back when Microsoft may have owned a small stake in Norton's, or engaged in a temporary distribution partnership with Norton, but if so they have since divested and no longer do. But it wouldn't be accurate to say that Microsoft bought Norton's. The following link proves the case:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ns_by_Symantec
Symantec Bought Peter Norton Computing on September 4, 1990. Case clos-ed, as Clusoe would say...
The first AV Company Microsoft bought is featured in the Microsoft press release I supplied the Count. Back in the days of '95 and earlier, it was common for OEMs to put all kinds of third-party software in their package of junk software (because all of it was mostly trial software), and Norton's was surely included in many systems back then. I used every version of Windows from 3.1 on (before that I was strictly in C= Amiga land for eight years), and none of them included Norton's as a part of the OS. Indeed, I actually bought a few versions of Norton's, as did most people, back then, simply because there wasn't much else--and the original Norton's Utilities were pretty good for that era--not so hot today, however. Then Symantec, not Microsoft, bought Norton's and the rest is history. I've seen no evidence anywhere that "Microsoft bought Norton's"...but plenty of evidence that it was Symantec who bought Norton's, though. And like I said, I was using the AV program Microsoft bought, and according to reviews at the time it was much better than Norton's AV--which is why I bought it. That's the main reason I recall it as I do.
Internet rumors get started and often have long legs. I have run into a couple of misconceptions myself along the way that turned out to be rumor instead of fact--it's always surprising when you discover that something you long thought you knew, never was...I know from experience...
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