Will Windows Vista make spyware a thing of the past?

CNET published an article on "Spyware-killing Vista" and why Vista's security features will put anti-spyware companies out of business.  Well, almost out of  business. Over at Threat Chaos, fellow ZDNet blogger Richard Stiennon says No Way. 

Even if all current Windows users upgrade to Vista, which they won't for a number of reasons including the hardware requirements for Vista, the spyware pushers will find a way to infect users in spite of Vista's security features, Windows Defender (anti-spyware) and IE 7. There's simply too much money being made by spyware and adware companies, botnet masters using backdoors and keyloggers. 

Stiennon notes other reasons why Vista won't end spyware. I think Stiennon is right. I don't see spyware going away due to Vista.

I recently did a test of Windows Defender's ability to detect and remove spyware. Windows Defender did not do as well as 2 of the leading commercial anti-spyware programs. We'll see in a day or two how well Windows Defender does at blocking spyware -- preventing it from getting into the system in the first place.

March 21 update:  Microsoft announced today that the release of Vista for consumers will be delayed until January 2007, so I guess we will have to wait a little longer than previously thought to see how well it stops spyware. Link.