Will Microsoft's forthcoming Vista spell the end of the security problems which have plagued, and continue to plague, the company.
Not from the look of it, despite a Seattle Times intro to a Q&A with Windows Boss Jim Allchin.
He is, says the story, "putting final touches on software that could finally help people start feeling safe and secure using a PC, if all goes according to plan".
However, that opening to a talk with the retiring (literally, not figuratively) Allchin, who, "gave an overview last week of Windows Vista, the new version of Microsoft's flagship software that Allchin's team is set to deliver before … the end of 2006," may be a trifle broad.
He said Vista is, "on track to go on sale by the holidays."
But Vista, formerly Longhorn, has for already suffered from one long delay after another and Allchin also says, "I will also make a cautionary notice that I will not ship this product if it doesn't achieve the quality that's demanded by our customers.
"So although everything looks great right now, quality will be the deciding factor. I feel pretty good right now and we'll see how it goes the rest of the year."
Bill and the Boyz haven't so far paid much attention to the quality demanded by their customers, especially when it comes to security issues.
But time will tell.
Meanwhile, "Will you make a version of Vista for Apple computers, now that they're using Intel processors?" – asks the Seattle Times.
Allchin: We have no plans to move Vista to the Macintosh hardware.
On "all the security advances in Vista," will concern fade away over the next couple of years"? - wonders the Q&A.
That's Allchin's dream he says, "so I'll have to see if my dream comes true. To some degree, when we did Windows 2000 and Windows XP, we worked on trying to take away the reliability stigma that PCs had. By that I mean I don't think people even think about their machines having to be rebooted, not like they used to be in the old days.
"It used to be very common to reboot your Windows 9x machine." It was indeed. In short, the premature release of a faulty product wasn't a problem. But, "I think we did a very good job there," says Allchin.
"I hope we can do the same thing on safety and security with Windows Vista," the story has him saying.
"We are going to do a huge change with Windows Vista on this, but it truly is something that isn't going to go away for a very long time.
"We are going to make it much less of an issue, but it's still going to have to be something that people are aware of."
Also See: Seattle Times - Q&A with Jim Allchin of Microsoft, January 31, 2006
