XP Service Pack 2 Glitches Turn Up
Many companies are taking a wait-and-see approach to Microsoft's newly released Windows XP Service Pack 2. Some early adopters are reporting problems, and even Microsoft admits that the security-oriented SP2 may cause conflicts on some systems.
What can users - both businesses and consumers - expect from Microsoft's newly released, long-awaited and many-times-delayed Windows XP Service Pack 2? For starters, probably an awful lot of glitches. It is widely expected that the update - an unusually large size, reportedly in the neighborhood of 250 MB - will affect other applications and cause system crashes. Just 24 hours after its initial release, the anecdotal verdict among CIOs is that even though the service pack's upgrades concentrate heavily on security , it might be better to wait and see the downside. Indeed, many system administrators are questioning whether the upgrade is worth installing. Hearts and Minds Microsoft now has to win the hearts and minds of users, says Panda Software CTO Patrick Hinojosa. "Microsoft has not exactly been synonymous with security in the past," he tells NewsFactor. "They have a harder PR task ahead of them than anything technical. Microsoft can buy all the technical expertise they want -- now the challenge is getting people to completely trust them." That said, there are a number of security enhancements in the service pack that make the upgrade worth a look, according to Hinojosa. The service pack improves the ability of antivirus vendors to hook into the OS, he says, which means Panda and other companies will be able to fully integrate Microsoft's antivirus procedure into their systems. "That is the big news," he says. "Microsoft has made it easier for AV companies to hook into the OS, which will improve security." Integration with CPUs Another good enhancement, he says, is the software code that allows the OS to work with new CPUs to prevent certain vulnerabilities. "For Windows, this is the first time there has been a coordination between an OS and a CPU to fight security problems --and it is a significant step. We can expect to see a lot more hardware/software collaboration at this level." DRM Drama This was not the first time Microsoft has tried to move in this direction, Hinojosa adds. "Microsoft first began discussing it about a year ago, when they said they were going to create a digital-rights management platform with Intel." Essentially, he explains, this would have allowed the OS to control what software would be able to be run on the machine. It was an initiative developed in response to illegal music trading on the P2P Web sites. Eventually, the idea was put aside in response to the outcry. But Hinojosa says Microsoft is again moving in that direction, albeit in a different fashion. "Now the story is all about buffer overflows. We will see Windows moving forward with its chip partners on such initiatives, and will probably see DRM revisited a few years down the road."
Reproduced from an article published by Enterprise Security Today
© Enterprise Security Today
The original article can be viewed here:
http://enterprise-security-today.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=26241
Permalink Bookmark Digg this story
