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Microsoft To Provide IE Patches for Windows XP Only

Fortunato_NC writes "Microsoft has decided that future IE updates, including those related to security, will only be available to customers using Windows XP. This news.com article has the complete scoop. A choice quote: 'Microsoft may be turning the lemons of its browser's security reputation into the lemonade of a powerful upgrade selling point.' This should provide a huge boost to Mozilla and other alternative browser backers."

42 of 610 comments (clear)

  1. Not security updates but security enhancements by FuzzzyLogik · · Score: 5, Informative
    They aren't saying they won't provide security patches for holes, they're stating they won't provide the features that are in SP2 in anything other than XP. That's what I got out of it. Which isn't such a big deal, did you expect anything less really?

    "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.
  2. No, that's not what they said. by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Informative

    First fucking line of the article.

    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.

    Only the new version of the browser is available under XP Service Pack 2, for architectural reasons the other OS's lack (NoExecute and whatever else).

    It says nowhere they won't provide patches for the most current IE's available under 2000.

    The new IE only runs under XP SP 2. You also need to upgrade if you want true HT support, BTW.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  3. Re:XP only ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    "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. "The most secure version of Windows today is Windows XP with SP2. We recommend that customers upgrade to XP and SP2 as quickly as possible."

    Seems pretty clear to me.. Unfortunate .. commonplace for larger companies to be using Windows 2000 ..

    In other news Microsoft decides to stop patching Windows 2003 and recommends that everyone upgrade to Linux..

  4. Re:just like them by miracle69 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I haven't been to a website in years that I couldn't see in Mozilla.

    Care to provide any examples?

    --
    Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
  5. Still patches for previous versions... by ImpTech · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to the article, there will still be security updates for all supported versions of IE and Windows. What they're saying is that Win2k and older will not get the pop-up blocker or any other such enhancements.

    Still sucks for the Win2k users though... Its clearly nothing more than a ploy to make them upgrade.

  6. This is NOT what the article says by pbranes · · Score: 3, Informative

    The article says that Windows XP SP2 enhancements will not be delivered to Windows 2000. This says nothing about security patches. This slashdot posting is FUD.

  7. Typically crappy Slashdot headline... by Andy+Davies · · Score: 2, Informative

    The article states that "Microsoft promised "ongoing security updates" for all supported versions of Windows and IE."

    All MS are doing is stating that the pop-up blocking and other new features in XP SP2 won't be made available to old OSs.

  8. Re:XP only ? by guacamole · · Score: 4, Informative

    IE/Solaris (and HPUX) has been dead for many, many years. OS X version of IE has been EOLed shortly after apple introduced Safari.

  9. Re:And my car? by stratjakt · · Score: 1, Informative

    No, that's not what the article says at all.

    It says that if the 2004 model comes with leather seats with built-in asswarmers, they have no plans to retrofit those built-in asswarmers into older models.

    Basically, the new IE with it's new features (pop up blocking, etc) is only available under XP. It doesn't say that there won't be security patches for 2000.

    2000 is still under support, and MS is still obligated by billions in support contracts to maintain it.

    This is just slashbot FUD. There is no good bullshit. Pro-Linux/Anti-MS bullshit is as smelly as Pro-Windows/Anti-Linux bullshit.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  10. Read the EULA by overshoot · · Score: 4, Informative

    When you license (not "buy") an MS product, you waive any claim on them for anything. Put another way: whatever problems you have are none of their worry.

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
    1. Re:Read the EULA by CountBrass · · Score: 4, Informative
      Fortunately, at least in the UK, anything a company sells has to be of "merchantable quality" and "fit for purpose" and that's not something the company weasle their way around in anyway at all. Doesn't matter if they put up signs in the shop saying "sold as seen" or make you agree to an EULA: those consumer rights still hold regardless.

      In addition, it's a basic part of contract law that any clause that effectively takes away precisely the benefit you were contracting to receive is automatically void.

      --
      Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
    2. Re:Read the EULA by ChumpusRex2003 · · Score: 2, Informative
      The law changed a few years ago. Items now have to be of 'satisfactory quality' (not 'merchantable quality'). This has not been very clearly defined, but probably means what a typical customer for that type of product would find acceptable.

      The Sale of Goods Act also only applies to retail sales to end-users. It does not apply to the agreement between the manufacturer and the retailer, nor does it apply to private sales.

      This means that if you a buy some software at a swap meet, or privately off ebay, and it is unusable, then you have no statutory recourse to either the seller or the manufacturer.

  11. Re:XP only ? by timeOday · · Score: 4, Informative
    I have to side with the article summary on this one:
    Microsoft promised "ongoing security updates" for all supported versions of Windows and IE.

    The ongoing security updates do not, as Microsoft points out, include the latest security fixes with Service Pack 2, released last month. Those include a new pop-up blocker and a new system of handling ActiveX controls and downloaded content.

    And it's those more substantial changes, rather than the bug fixes that come with routine upgrades for supported products, that security organizations have lauded for addressing IE's graver security concerns.

    There you have it: there is no option for securing MSIE on Win2K.
  12. Complaints by pastpolls · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here is a link to a page that contains the website for all Attorney General's offices. I encourage you to continue to complain about such behavior...http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/stat eattorneys.htm

    Let the 200 million non-XP users speak out. Heck, speak out even if you don't use windows. Unpatched machines can cost you your bandwith.

  13. Re:Classic M$ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, their view, believe it or not, is that people don't want the security patches for older systems! At least, that's what Bruce Morgan, of the Internet Explorer team, posted on the IEBlog.

  14. Re:just like them by ruiner13 · · Score: 3, Informative
    "I haven't been to a website in years that I couldn't see in Mozilla.

    Care to provide any examples?"

    Windows Update.

    There's one. Many financial sites are like that, as well as a few more i've seen. I love firefox, but it is still lacking in some CSS2 areas.

    --

    today is spelling optional day.

  15. Re:just like them by I+confirm+I'm+not+a · · Score: 2, Informative

    This site were/are providing download facilities for an album in aid of Oxfam's campaign for Darfur.

    Apparently, because the DRMed-album is in Windows-only format, people with browsers like Firefox are forbidden - presumably our use of Firefox proves we're going to try and use Winamp to bypass DRM...or something.

    You're right though - there are precious few web-developers stupid enough to build for IE and IE alone these days.

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    This is where the serious fun begins.
  16. Sites not usuable by non-IE browsers by spineboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    I work in the medical field, and plenty of sites for reading X-rays, checking patient labs seem to be only usuable by IE(active-X issues, etc). It's the only reason I keep Windows on my Linux boxes.

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    ..........FULL STOP.
  17. Re:just like them by Oriumpor · · Score: 2, Informative

    Web consoles for the Cisco 3500's, the 3com corebuilders... oh you know... obscure shit like that.

  18. Re:just like them by TwistedSquare · · Score: 2, Informative

    Slashdot (the rendering bug), Odeon (past the first page), Powerhouse are the ones I've tried in the past week or two that have Mozilla problems. I still use Firefox though, Powerhouse lost my custom because of their IE requirement.

  19. TROLL ALERT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The story, if you read it, states the XP SP2 improvements to IE will only be available to XP SP2 customers. THESE imporovements will only be able to XP SP2.

    The article DOES NOT state no more IE patches for 2000/NT 4.0

    Very very misleading title to this story on ./

    1. Re:TROLL ALERT! by kidgenius · · Score: 3, Informative
      The article DOES NOT state no more IE patches for 2000/NT 4.0

      In a way it does. It basically says that the new version of IE will NOT be available for anything but WinXP. Therefore, any patches or fixes that are in the new version of IE will not be incorporated into the lesser IE's.

    2. Re:TROLL ALERT! by Muerte2 · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm not sure I totally agree with what you say. You see I'm one of the rare Slashdotters that actually READ the article.

      By refusing to offer IE's security upgrades to users of older operating systems except through paid upgrades to XP, Microsoft may be turning the lemons of its browser's security reputation into the lemonade of a powerful upgrade selling point.

      While I'm not sure it's 100% as cut and dried as what the /. title suggests, it does say that some security releases may not make it back down to the old OSes.

    3. Re:TROLL ALERT! by William+Baric · · Score: 2, Informative

      It says patches for the new version of IE will only be available for people who have the new version of IE (i.e. the one with XP). It doesn't say anywhere that there won't be any new patches for the old version of IE (the one with 2000).

  20. That is not what the article says by waynegoode · · Score: 2, Informative
    Slashdot article: Microsoft has decided that future IE updates, including those related to security, will only be available to customers using Windows XP.

    That is not what the story says. From the news.com article:

    Microsoft promised "ongoing security updates" for all supported versions of Windows and IE.

    The specific security improvements to IE in XP SP2 will not be available to other versions of Windows, but security updates will be. I don't think Microsoft is stupid enought to stop security updates to IE for everyone.

  21. Slashdot by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 2, Informative

    Slashdot renders like crap in Mozilla 1.7.x

    Specifically, the "left side" menus and the main page overlap most of the time. (That's what the original poster meant by "Slashdot left side".)

    Half the time ONLY the left side menu and nothing else renders.

    For the past month or two, /. has been HORRIBLY broken in Mozilla.

    www.geocaching.com's front page is also broken in Mozilla.

    --
    retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
  22. Re:XP only ? by HydrusZ · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Microsoft promised "ongoing security updates" for all supported versions of Windows and IE."

    It means you will still get all of the patches, but you will never get the popup blocker and other features specific to IE6 SP2. Not a big deal.

  23. OK try this one by spineboy · · Score: 2, Informative
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    ..........FULL STOP.
  24. Re:just like them by RockClimbingFool · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://launch.yahoo.com/

    Lots of multimedia streaming sites will only work with IE.

  25. More /. editor FUD by YU+Nicks+NE+Way · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you read the actual article, you'll see that what it says is that the new features provided in SP2 for IE (the popup blocker and the notification bar at the top) are not going to be back-ported to older operating systems. That's not the same as saying that "Microsoft To Provide IE Patches for Windows XP Only". In the article, Microsoft commits to continue patching IE for older versions, particularly for security bugs.

    (And don't tell me that the submittor picks the title. The editors pick the title -- in this case, the title doesn't even match the submission, much less the article.)

  26. Re:Does this surprise anyone? by JPelorat · · Score: 2, Informative

    There's a difference between "Nobody uses product X so we're not going to support it anymore" and "We're not going to support product X so you better stop using it"

    XP accounts for only half of the Windows installed base of 390 million. Half. Win2000 is around 17%. That's what, 65 million installations? Nah, nobody uses that shit anymore.... fuck em.

    Sheesh.

    --
    Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
  27. Re:Classic M$ by Zorilla · · Score: 5, Informative

    I bet you're right too. I'm sure there are many large corps who won't move from W2K to XP.

    Microsoft will definitely give it a second though when they realize organizations like this one are using Windows 2000 on user machines. It took them until 2002 to get fully upgraded from NT 4.0 where I was.

    --

    It would be cool if it didn't suck.
  28. Re:just like them by dheltzel · · Score: 2, Informative

    I agree, the only sites I need IE for anymore are internal company sites that use stupid IIS tricks and refuse to work with FireFox (even when I trick them into thinking I'm using IE, the display is hosed). Everything on the internet seems fine with Firefox. The only site I've found that displays funny is /. (oh, the irony), but I can still read that ok.

  29. Re:Classic M$ by poincaraux · · Score: 4, Informative
    Don't be silly. You make it sound like his view, and the view of the IE team, is that a large number of people don't want security patches for old systems. What he said is this:
    Here's another eWeek article on the same subject. You'll note that some people interviewed want an update for Win2K while some people do not.

    And the article he's talking about has one person saying
    he would much rather see Microsoft spend resources supporting current and future product releases rather than older ones.

    So, fine, you may disagree with that, but it's not quite the fantastical position that you imply.
  30. Re:XP only ? by jekewa · · Score: 5, Informative
    If you check the Product Lifecycle Dates they've already passed the end-of-life dates for many of the older versions of Windows.

    Win3x, Win9x, and WinME are all long passed. WinNT Server remains until 31 Dec 2004, but other WinNTs are passed. Win2K is scheduled for demise on 30 June 2005 (start saving). Even WinXP is scheduled for desupport 31 Dec 2006. Win Server 2003 is scheduled for 30 Jun 2008, so you've got a while there, but it's on the plan.

    It should not come as a surprise that they stop providing feature enhancements to the older versions. Profit and other greed aside, technically it's unrealistic to expect them continue to support systems indefinately.

    Tick, tick, tick...

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    End the FUD
  31. Re:just like them by rscrawford · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, with the User Agent Switcher extension, I've been able to set my UA string to "Internet Explorer 6" and get to almost all of the sites I regularly browse to that claim that they require IE. Many sites claim that they require IE, but they don't really.

    For those sites that really DO require IE (and for testing purposes, since I'm a web developer at work and, sadly almost all of our customers still use IE), I use the IE View extension.

    --
    -- The reason it's called the right wing? Irony.
  32. Re:XP only ? by pbranes · · Score: 2, Informative

    They do not mean that they are stopping support for Windows 2000 or IE under Windows 2000. They only mean that IE under Windows 2000 will not get a pop up blocker or an add-on manager.

  33. Re:Classic M$ by pbranes · · Score: 4, Informative
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh; [ln];LifeWin

    Microsoft is already committed to supported Windows 2000 until **** 2010 ****.

    All this article says is that Windows 2000 will not get a pop-up blocker and an add-on manager.

  34. Re:Classic M$ by pbranes · · Score: 5, Informative
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh; [ln];LifeWin

    Read it straight from Microsoft. Windows 2000 is supported until 2010. This article from cnet only states that Windows 2000 will not receive a pop-up blocker or an add-on manager. Hotfixes will still be released as needed.

  35. Re:How many reasons? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2, Informative

    Outlook has alot of nice features and is required for work I guess.

    Groupware is one of these features. Many just dial into work or use VPN and sync with the exchange server.

    IE is still needed for many audio drmed sited.

    There are plugins to enable activeX on firefox but they just make calls to IE dlls with all the insecure code which makes using firefox pointless.

  36. Re:This isn't going to help Apple one bit. by kilfarsnar · · Score: 2, Informative

    I agree with your basic point, but a new Mac can be had for $800 these days. Sorry to gripe, but as a Mac user I get tired of hearing about how overpriced Macs are. Yeah, the top Power Mac is expensive. But a high end Dell workstation (which is what a Power Mac is, a workstation) is as expensive with similar components.

    --
    "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
  37. Re:Classic M$ by Progoth · · Score: 4, Informative

    Microsoft is already committed to supported Windows 2000 until **** 2010 ****.

    All this article says is that Windows 2000 will not get a pop-up blocker and an add-on manager.


    Mod this fellow up, if you bother to read the article you will see the post is correct. It specifically says security updates will be released, just not the sp2 "security enhancements." Didn't sp2 get some kind of protections against buffer overruns at a low level? that's what won't be backported.