I think this is just an excellent example the sophistication of microsoft's FUD machine. They are true masters, I can't speak to MS innovations in the technical arena, but they have an uncanny ability to disparage and create fear (uncertainty and doubt) in the most subtle and innvovative ways.

as far as symantec, this tag-teaming by partners is so ingrained over the years that I feel all microsoft has to do is plant the seed and any number of industry pundits will intuitively pile on.

this isn't that much different that putting friendly warnings when encoutering DR-DOS in Win 3.x, or recompiling windows and releasing it as an anti-pirating fix in order to slyly move the entry-point IBM was using in OS/2 for Windows (which was immediately broadcast by PCWeek, Computer/InfoWorld, and others as a major "bug" in OS/2)

I truly think it's a "badge of honor" for Perl to have MS FUD'ing it, it means Perl is a real player

anyway, my $.02 on an excellent Meditation...