bigc73542
January 1st, 2004, 09:25 PM
Link to story: http://www.winnetmag.com/WindowsSecurity/Article/ArticleID/41306/WindowsSecurity_41306.html
-{ Quote: "A Look Behind the Windows XP SP2 Beta
Paul Thurrott (http://www.winnetmag.com/Authors/AuthorID/879/879.html)
Windows & .NET Perspectives
InstantDoc #41306
Web Exclusive
Back in mid-1996, Microsoft was improving Internet Explorer (IE) at an amazing rate, at one point running the IE 3.0 beta simultaneously with the IE 4.0 alpha. That original version of IE 4.0 was a far different beast than the version the software giant unleashed in late 1997; the original version looked very much like IE 3.0 but included such features as Site Map--a Windows Explorer-style treeview of the layout of the site that you were currently visiting--and integrated FTP capabilities. But then Netscape announced that it would replace the Windows desktop with a project code-named Constellation, describing Windows as nothing more than a buggy set of device drivers. In Redmond, those were fighting words, and if you ever doubted that Microsoft took the Netscape threat seriously, consider what happened next: The company abandoned its original IE 4.0 project and started from scratch on the IE 4.0 version we eventually received. That IE 4.0 version included Active Desktop, which blended HTML and "push content" with the Windows desktop; an integrated IE/Windows Explorer shell; the Channel Bar so that third parties could deliver content to users' desktops; and other features that, in retrospect, were pretty obviously a reaction to features that Netscape had announced.
We know how that story turned out: Netscape imploded under its unobtainable lofty goals and a reinvigorated Microsoft dominated the Web, with IE surpassing, then destroying Netscape's offerings for good. Several years have passed since this milestone moment in Microsoft history, but history is repeating itself again this year with Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). This time, however, the challenge hasn't come from a competitor like Netscape. Instead, the challenge has come from the hacker community, which has branded Microsoft's products as insecure with the many massive security compromises...
.
.
." }-
-{ Quote: "A Look Behind the Windows XP SP2 Beta
Paul Thurrott (http://www.winnetmag.com/Authors/AuthorID/879/879.html)
Windows & .NET Perspectives
InstantDoc #41306
Web Exclusive
Back in mid-1996, Microsoft was improving Internet Explorer (IE) at an amazing rate, at one point running the IE 3.0 beta simultaneously with the IE 4.0 alpha. That original version of IE 4.0 was a far different beast than the version the software giant unleashed in late 1997; the original version looked very much like IE 3.0 but included such features as Site Map--a Windows Explorer-style treeview of the layout of the site that you were currently visiting--and integrated FTP capabilities. But then Netscape announced that it would replace the Windows desktop with a project code-named Constellation, describing Windows as nothing more than a buggy set of device drivers. In Redmond, those were fighting words, and if you ever doubted that Microsoft took the Netscape threat seriously, consider what happened next: The company abandoned its original IE 4.0 project and started from scratch on the IE 4.0 version we eventually received. That IE 4.0 version included Active Desktop, which blended HTML and "push content" with the Windows desktop; an integrated IE/Windows Explorer shell; the Channel Bar so that third parties could deliver content to users' desktops; and other features that, in retrospect, were pretty obviously a reaction to features that Netscape had announced.
We know how that story turned out: Netscape imploded under its unobtainable lofty goals and a reinvigorated Microsoft dominated the Web, with IE surpassing, then destroying Netscape's offerings for good. Several years have passed since this milestone moment in Microsoft history, but history is repeating itself again this year with Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). This time, however, the challenge hasn't come from a competitor like Netscape. Instead, the challenge has come from the hacker community, which has branded Microsoft's products as insecure with the many massive security compromises...
.
.
." }-