Sometimes it pays to read the fine print. Or at least read the press release ALL the way through.

On Tuesday, Microsoft said it completed its buyout of Sybari, the East Northport, N.Y. maker of security software for Exchange, SharePoint, Domino. And formerly for Linux and Unix as well. Now that Sybari is part of the Big M, there will be no more new sales of Antigen for Linux or Unix.

A spokesman said about 99.9 percent of Sybari customers run on Windows. A small number run Linux/Unix and Microsoft is committed to supporting those current customers for the life of their contracts. Customers who want to renew their contracts will work with their account reps on that and support will be furnished by a third party, the spokesman added.

So now, the company can safely say that it offers cross-platform support as long as that platform is Windows. The company will continue to sell and support Antigen for Domino (on Windows NT at least) which competes with Microsoft Exchange Server.

The discontinuation of new Linux/Unix development, could hurt the offering in large accounts running multiple operating systems although observers say Sybari is a bigger deal in smaller accounts. Large companies want a security/anti-virus/anti-spam solution that covers all their needs, a Symantec exec said at the time.