Microsoft Rushes Internet Explorer Patch

drquoz writes "Last week, it was reported that a critical security flaw was found in Internet Explorer. On Tuesday, experts were advising users not to use IE until a patch could be released. On Wednesday, Microsoft released the patch. An interesting quote from the article: 'Kandek suggests that Microsoft is at a disadvantage in updating Internet Explorer because its browser doesn't have a built-in update mechanism like other browser makers. Mozilla, for instance, just released Firefox 3.05 to Firefox users through its auto-update system.'"

Comments

Firefox updated?

[Henry V .009]

No -- Firefox is at the disadvantage. If you're a single user running as administrator, its auto-update is great. However, the users (all running limited accounts) on our Windows/Samba network will have to wait until I install the new update manually because there is no built in mechanism for administrators to push out updates.

And should I use my cobbled together scripts to push out a security update for Firefox on the last day of finals when it might break everything, or should I wait until Monday?

On the other hand, the WSUS server that I set up worked exactly like it was supposed to last night.

Re:Firefox updated?

[Anonymous Coward]

FF needs a updater service that runs in the System context so that all FF updates can get installed without the user being logged on as an administrator.

No, I don't want another mysterious service that runs in the background doing whatever it feels like without explicit approval.

Firefox for windows needs to start deploying the program as a regular .msi file (like most windows applications) so that all the existing application deployment tools will work. That will go a long way to boosting firefox among businesses & large organizations.

Re:IE updates

[BotnetZombie]

Tightly bound indeed. I've been postponing the inevitable reboot all day long (GMT here). It's ridiculous to need a reboot just for a browser update.

Re:Doesn't have a built in update mechanism?

[markkezner]

While I would agree with you in theory, your ideas don't match up with what I've seen in the real world.

Until recently I worked in a mom and pop PC repair business. About 9 out of 10 systems I worked on were out of date, typically by a few months. I don't know for sure, but my guess is that users are switching auto-update off because can't be bothered with 'nag' messages from their software.

Granted, the machines I saw were generally dying, so it may not be a fair cross-section of home computer users. Still, the idea that 99% of home users should have new patches within a week flies in the face of what I saw every day.