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Thursday, September 23, 2004
Only XP SP2 Secure Internet Explorer
If you’re one of about 200 million people using older versions of Windows and you want the latest security enhancements to Internet Explorer, get your credit card ready.
Microsoft this week reiterated that it would keep the new version of Microsoft’s IE Web browser available only as part of the recently released Windows XP operating system, Service Pack 2.
That, say analysts, is a steep price to pay to secure a browser that swept the market as a free, standalone product. “It’s a problem that people should have to pay for a whole OS upgrade to get a safe browser,” said Michael Cherry, analyst with Directions on Microsoft. “We do not have plans to deliver Windows XP SP2 enhancements for Windows 2000 or other older versions of Windows,” the company said in a statement.
Three years have passed since Microsoft introduced its last new OS, and its upcoming release, code-named Longhorn, has been plagued by delays. Microsoft last month scaled back technical ambitions for Longhorn in order to meet a 2006 deadline.
Those ongoing security updates do not, as Microsoft points out, include the latest security fixes with Service Pack 2, released last month. Now it’s unclear whether even half the Windows world will have access to the shored up IE.
Of Microsoft’s approximately 390 million operating system installations around the world, Windows XP Pro constitutes 26.1 percent, Windows XP Home 24.7 percent, IDC said.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39167607,00.htm