Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Skips Patch Tuesday
maotx writes "According to their recently released security bulletin, Microsoft will skip this month's Patch Tuesday. Patch Tuesday, also known as Black Tuesday amongst Administrators, is the second Tuesday of every month, in which Microsoft releases a series of patches and critical updates for its various operating systems and applications."
A patch every month ?. Do they hold onto the patches if it happened to be one that slipped a schedule and became available on the thursday after the first release. Do they wait an entire month before shipping in the next ?.
I've often heard tuesday mid-morning was the best time to release a new package - mostly hearsay. Any bit of truth in it ?
Tuesday's are considered unlucky in Indian lore - to undertake new things. Wednesdays are the day of beginnings - but it's already Wed here by the time it's released worldwide.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
Very true. Microsoft could help the cause by making updates simpler, and requiring less restarts. Have you seen a mac when it needs its OS updated? Its much simpler.
It's not so much that there isn't a patch this month, as that Microsoft has decided to hold off on releasing a patch due to stability concerns, which is laudable. So, while we have no patches this month, we also have a known unpatched, remotely exploitable hole in Internet Explorer until the eventual release. The big question is, will Microsoft release an out of cycle patch to fix the issue, or will be have a full month of PCs getting owned just because they visited the wrong URL using IE6?
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
WTF?
"CERT and other vulnerability watchdogs have noticed an continuous increase in new exploits which are released, almost synchronously, on the second Wednesday of each month." -- Phrak News
It will mean one less reader, meaning less activity. If activity slows enough, OSDN/VA Software would allocate less bandwidth to Slashdot. Then, users would end up slashdotting Slashdot, which would cause countless more users to quit, reducing activity further, and allocating more bandwidth away. Eventually, they would cut Slashdot off altogether, since NOBODY would be visiting.
In short, your quitting Slashdot would help bring about what you want.
--
Bonk the Zonk! TMM for editor!
Trolling all trolls since 2001.
Microsoft software is insecure because that is a way of "maximizing shareholder value", in my opinion.
When people have problems with their computer, they often buy a new computer. Then Microsoft sells another copy of Windows, which, of course, still has huge security risks.
That also seems to be why Microsoft software is so... unfinished. If they ever finished the job, no one would need to buy another copy. So maximizing shareholder value means minimizing quality as much as possible, considering what customers will accept, and trying to introduce new hassles that can be fixed by even later versions.
Microsoft: We're so great that there is nothing to do this month! Oh, don't worry about those High Severity Remote Code Execution vulnerabilities.
Macromedia and Real Networks have been competing with Microsoft, but Microsoft is considerably ahead in being insecure.