Microsoft: There is no special version of XP for the Air Force
After all the talk about Microsoft handing a hardened version of XP to the Air Force during renegotiation talks for desktop-software contracts, as first reported by Wired, it turns out that there were some issues in the story that caused a good deal of confusion. Speaking on the record, one Microsoft employee explained exactly what it was the Air force got. As some pointed out when the story broke, if you wanted it, you can have a hardened XP image too.
Last Thursday, Wired broke a story that reported details of a hardened version of Windows XP that was given to the Air Force. This version of XP, as Wired reported, was the most “…secure distribution version of Windows XP ever produced by Microsoft: More than 600 settings are locked down tight, and critical security patches can be installed in an average of 72 hours instead of 57 days.”
“The Air Force, on the verge of renegotiating its desktop-software contract with Microsoft, met with Ballmer and asked the company to deliver a secure configuration of Windows XP out of the box. That way, Air Force administrators wouldn’t have to spend time re-configuring, and the department would have uniform software across the board, making it easier to control and maintain patches,” the article reported.
