Microsoft has made available a number of fixes for Windows 2000
including updates to bring the company into compliance with parts
of its proposed antitrust settlement with the US government.
Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 was made available to some key
Microsoft customers yesterday (31 July). The package of updates and
fixes will become generally available to Windows 2000 users on
Thursday, Microsoft said.
Service Pack 3 includes a number of security enhancements as well
as increased compatibility with third-party applications, according
to Jim Cullinan, group product manager with Microsoft's Windows
division.
Some of the security updates come as a result of the company's
security push known as the Trustworthy Computing Initiative. Under
that effort, the Windows group has spent more than a month sweeping
its code in search of security holes. Other divisions at Microsoft
have or are in the process of undergoing similar sweeps. The
service pack includes all of the previous security fixes that have
been posted individually by Microsoft.
Additionally, Microsoft is fulfilling some stipulations it agreed
to under its proposed antitrust settlement with the US Department
of Justice and the nine states that have agreed to settle with
Microsoft. In Service Pack 3, the company has added to its desktop
operating system a controller that allows users to change the
"middleware" applications that show up by default when the
operating system is launched. Those applications include the Web
browser, e-mail and calendaring software and media player.
The company last released a service pack for Windows 2000 in May
2001 but also released a cumulative pack of bug fixes in January
this year, which it called a Security Rollup Package. That release
included roughly 500 bug fixes for the Windows 2000 desktop and
server operating systems.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is expected to release the first service pack
for its Windows XP operating system in the next two months, the
company said. That update will also include security bugs fixes
that were developed as a result of its code sweep, as well as
controls for swapping out Microsoft middleware applications for
those from third-party vendors.
The Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 will be generally available on
Thursday on CD or as download at:
www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/sp3/default.asp.