It seems that was a year when many AV companies started their business: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antivirus_software
Nice article, back in 2004 I realized that blacklisting wasn't enough, so that's why I became obsessed with sand-boxing, HIPS and AE. It's just a fact that even today, a lot of AV's will fail to spot malware via blacklists. About firewalls, if used correctly they are still pretty effective, but I'm sure when it comes to securing big networks, it's a bit more complex, and you can not always simply block PowerShell for example.
