Slashdot Mirror
Adobe Gets Regular On Security Patches
dasButcher writes "Adobe joins Microsoft and Oracle on regularly scheduled security patch releases. The first set of patches for Acrobat and Reader are scheduled for today, and Adobe will release future patch batches quarterly."
The real mess is a lack of package management on Windows.
On virtually any linux distro I can type one command and have the system check for security updates and provide me a list of all packages that require security updates. Another command will apply those updates. If I'm REALLY brave I can just put it in cron and have it just email me what its doing after the fact (not always wise - some linux distros sometimes break booting with core package upgrades). A different variation on the same process could apply non-security updates as well. Distros like debian actually backport security patches so that you can have very safe updates.
On windows the OS itself is fairly well updated if you configure it correctly. However, the 40 bazillion other pieces of software I use are a mixed bag. Some will auto-update, but using their own update programs with their own configurations and their own update policies. Many don't auto-update at all, but if you look really hard you might find a website (or if you're really lucky an email list) where updates get posted. I'm sure my windows box right now has 5-7 services all running in the background that are just looking for updates to various programs.
Windows really needs a package manager. It could even support installs off of CD, but the installer is a standard component of the OS, and the OS manages updates. The installer could even be extensible (installer creates an enviornment to install into, then program-specific installer does all kinds of magic and dumps files into that environment, then OS deploys files and registry keys and permissions appropriately). Virtually any linux distro would be a vast improvement, and I think there is room for even further improvement.