Microsoft Pulls Web-Blocking XP Patch

by , 1:15 PM EDT, May 29th, 2003

As if you needed another reason to love OS X, or at least wonder why Big Redmond's products are so popular: Wired News is reporting that some users of Windows XP found that they could no longer ply the digital ocean that is the Internet after installing the latest Microsoft patch. This forced the company to remove the XP patch from circulation. The problem, according to the Wired story, is that Microsoft's patch conflicted with other software. From the Wired News article, titled "Windows Users Knocked Off Net:"

Microsoft withdrew a security improvement for its flagship Windows XP software after it crippled Internet connections for some of the 600,000 users who installed it. Microsoft officials said Tuesday the update -- which had been available as an option since Friday on its "Windows Update" Web site -- apparently was incompatible with popular security software from other companies, such as Symantec.

Microsoft said Internet connections failed immediately for an unspecified number of more than 600,000 computers using Windows XP who downloaded and installed the update. Consumers could reconnect only by removing the update, which promised to improve reliability for types of secure Internet connections commonly used by corporations.

The article then goes on to talk about concerns in Washington over the reliability of patches in general. Read the full story at Wired News.

The Mac Observer Spin:

600,000 Windows users had downloaded the patch since Friday? That's a tiny percentage of the actual number of Microsoft users. What is significant about this glitch is its timing; as the article points out, Homeland Security is trying to figure out what are the risks involved with poorly tested updates. It could very well be that even the process of automatic updating, as Apple and Microsoft allow, can be viewed as a security risk.

One last thought: We find it interesting how Microsoft down played the problem caused by their bad patch. MS Program Manager, Michael Surkan said, "Most systems didn't crash; they simply lost network connectivity."

Simply lost connectivity? It may not be true in the Windows world, but if our Macs lose connectivity to the Internet for any reason, we're liable to go into Conniption Fits until the problem is resolved. Yet the lemmings still keep lining up at that Microsoft cliff.

Windows Users Knocked Off Net