You may have seen this everywhere during the last couple of days – the news that Intel will be phasing out the McAfee security brand name while keeping the shield and product the same.  The announcement came from CES and was carried throughout the world of tech news.  This development should close out a saga that started 20 years ago when John McAfee left the company that he founded, sticking with it through a prior name change, and eventually selling it for a staggering $7.7 billion to Intel almost 4 years ago.  It is often reported that Intel had been itching to get away from the brand name.  The timing of the announcement is under fire by McAfee, who sees it as a “wasted opportunity.”

In a quick phone interview, McAfee reaffirmed his pleasure with the brand change.  He states:

“It was embarrassing.  The software is horrible.  Let me illustrate just a taste of how this affected me.  Anywhere I go, be it online or on television – I would hear nothing but negative comments, not about me, but about the McAfee software.  We’re talking about an overwhelming percentage of negative comments – maybe 80% – on how the software was worthless, junk, slowing down someone’s computer, overpriced – I could go on.  I clearly haven’t touched the software in a long, long time.”

Interestingly, he also puts forth the notion that the catalyst for this name change may have been pushed by McAfee himself.

“Some months ago, before I embarked on my current D-Central project, I reached out to Intel.  The offer was to help do something with the product.  They spent billions of dollars for a product that they haven’t done anything to improve.  I told them I would come in short-term, and help straighten the program out.  We’d grab the best software engineers, the best visionaries in the business and revive the brand.  Intel is so big and so slow, they really couldn’t make that decision.  I let them know that they should kill the brand McAfee.”

Praise for Intel’s innovations

Intel is now pushing a number of new announcements at the CES 2014 show, including the Edison SD micro-size computer and an impressive wireless charging bowl.  These are some pretty interesting innovations that could make a big impact in the consumer space and even the enterprise space.  There are a lot of moving parts to Intel and innovations from their extensive R&D investments can be expected for some time to come.  McAfee however adds some criticism to how some of this has played out:

“The SD-size microscopic computer – that was an incredible product development.  There’s a lot of ways that could end up changing things, all kinds of uses we have yet to be seen.  It’s unfortunate and a missed opportunity however that the impact of this innovation has been muffled by all this noise about the brand rename.   That was the big headline yesterday.  I don’t know what’s going on in the marketing department over there, but I’d be furious about this.  This could have been done quietly – I mean, since when was the McAfee brand ever that big in the business?  Maybe 4 years ago when they bought it, but it has been quiet ever since.  They chose poorly on making this announcement now, and they let all this sensationalism in the press overwhelm the praise they deserve for the things they’ve developed from other parts of the company.  That’s unfortunate, but I’m glad from my side that it’s all over.”

McAfee has also shared some interesting developments on D-Central, the company he is founding to protect online freedom and privacy.  His core team is secured and they’re racing full-speed ahead towards launch.  Originally slated for a release early in 2014, hardware supply issues have created some delays, but among his strategic meetings is a discussion next week with a figure who is iconic in the electronics industry.  With the public distractions behind him, including the recent stalking complaint that was dismissed, the mogul is busy putting all the pieces in place to get the new business rolling.  He reports that response has been great and his confidence is at an all-time high.

It’s quite possible that this could be an effort some people think may not go very far.  However, it’s also possible that we may be seeing one of the biggest comeback tales in history, 20 action-packed years in the making.  Certainly endorsements and partnerships from big names and companies in the industry will go a long way towards quelling the sensational character questions, but at the end of the day what will matter is D-Central.  That’s what is driving McAfee right now.