How Microsoft could save businesses time & money when it comes to patching
A ZDNet reader that goes by the name of R.E. Riker posed an interesting question to me via e-mail the other day. He asked if maybe, giving the high frequency of updates that it issues for its operating systems (in his case, Windows XP), if offering more frequent Service Packs or update roll-ups wouldn’t be the more sensible thing to do for some of Microsoft’s customers.
In my back and forth exchange with Riker, I learned that he maintains about 70 systems in an environment where new updates from Microsoft must be tested before they are deployed. This can’t an unusual requirement out there in the business world.
For Riker, Microsoft’s monthly issue of such updates (on the second Tuesday of each month) makes such testing impractical. On the other hand, if Riker waits for Microsoft to issue the next Service Pack (which could be years), that’s too long for the systems he oversees to go without certain critical updates.
