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Window XP update delayed until after Vista |
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Saturday, 21 January 2006 |
Microsoft will not release Windows XP Service Pack 3 until the second half of 2007, after the companys planned shipment date for its next-generation operating system Vista, the software giant said on Wednesday.
The company made the move to focus its developers on shipping its latest operating system, the company said in a statement provided to SecurityFocus. Vista will add some long-overdue security features, including limiting the privileges of the everyday user account similar to Unix-based systems, such as Linux and the Mac OS X. Another security feature that Microsoft touted--the next-generation secure computing base (NGSCB), formally known as "Palladium"--will only be partially incorporated in Vista, and its uncertain whether it will follow the industry-created standard.
The last major update for Windows XP, known as Service Pack 2, was released in August 2004 and added a host of new security features and bug fixes to Microsofts flagship desktop operating system.
Vistas focus on security will not eradicate security flaws--just this week the software giant released an update for the beta version of the operating system to fix the recent vulnerability in the Windows Meta File (WMF) format.
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