News: Security in Small Business

Windows Vista: Which comes first, the launch or the patch?

Security focus apparent even before release

by Keith R. Wheeler

1/18/2006

Microsoft’s next version of its Windows desktop operating system won’t be named with the previously used patterns of number.number, year of launch, or two letter combination. Instead, Vista will replace Windows XP in Microsoft’s line-up sometime later this year (currently expected to be the 3rd quarter). While Vista offers many improvements in the user experience such as clearer high resolution displays and new organization tools, security will be Vista’s primary focus. In fact, security is such a priority, Microsoft has already released a security patch for Vista even though the beta version of the operating system hasn’t even been released. Apparently, the Windows Update feature will be as important in Vista as it has been in XP.