The two largest players in their respective industries have teamed up to combat one of the most commonly complained problems, Spam. Recently, Microsoft and Pfizer filed 17 lawsuits against a number of spammers and illegitimate web sites which have been sending out millions, if not billions of emails to unsolicited customers trying to lure them into purchasing drugs. Anyone who has an email address knows that just about every other spam email is hawking some kind of drug. One of the most prominent pitches is for Pfizer’s Viagra.

At first glance, this partnership may seem odd to many people. In reality, it makes perfect sense. Pfizer and Microsoft both have plenty to gain from shutting down these illegal pharmacies. For Microsoft, it allows them to make progress against spammers and show their customer base that they indeed are trying to help curb the problem. For Pfizer, the benefits may be even greater; they are concerned about their corporate image. Many people falsely believe that the emails they receive pushing Viagra are coming from Pfizer itself. Also, many of these illegal pharmacies are selling imitation Viagra from sources in third world countries, or expired Viagra. If someone was to order some of these compromised pills and have a negative reaction to them, Pfizer’s image could be severely tarnished.

Whatever the reason for these unlikely bedfellows, it is a step in the right direction to help the public in general combat the nuisance of email. Hopefully more companies will step up to try and battle the behemoth spammers’ network.