Microsoft Rumored To Buy Symantec. Why Would It Bother?

Sometimes I hear a rumor that sounds like it’s landed from another planet. Today’s is Microsoft (MSFT) might buy Symantec (SYMC). Perhaps this is making stocks move and hearts go pit-a-pat, but it sounds like one of the goofiest ideas you could hear.

At first blush — sure, maybe there’s a fit between the company that produces the most widely used PC operating system in the world and a security company. Especially when Microsoft products have the reputation for being the favorite targets of hackers and digital criminals. But let’s use a little reason here.

First, Symantec has often received its licks over performance issues. Even though the newest version of the Norton Internet Security product is supposed to be significantly faster than earlier ones, it still isn’t at the highest rate of malware detection and it’s still not the lightest weight on a CPU.