Microsoft Slowly Delivering on Security Promises

The next step toward Trustworthy Computing will take longer than originally estimated, according to announcements in July 2004 by Microsoft executives. Microsoft released the long-awaited second service pack for Windows XP on Aug. 6, 2004, and will later introduce a new set of Network Access Protection (NAP) technologies, but these announcements were tempered by the confirmation that other promised capabilities, such as improved patching, would be delayed until 2005. Other questions, such as the availability of security-related improvements for versions of Windows still under Mainstream support, remain unanswered.

Windows XP SP2 Available in August

Will Poole, senior vice president of the Windows Client business, indicated at the Worldwide Partner Conference in July 2004 that Microsoft will release Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 2 in Aug. 2004. The service pack, which was released on Aug. 6, 2004, almost two years after the first service pack for Windows XP, has several new security features, including security configuration changes such as turning on the Windows Firewall by default, and patches and configuration changes to close security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer (IE). The service pack will be made available for download from an updated Windows Update site, which has been improved to better support the large number of users expected to access it to download XP SP2. (However, the new Windows Update 5.0 is not the promised combination of multiple update sites into a unified Microsoft Update, a single stop for updating all Microsoft products.)