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Major Microsoft Windows Update to Debut After Delay

08/05/2004

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced a new delay to security fixes that will better protect its flagship product Windows XP from worms and hackers, citing quality problems with the long-awaited update to its flagship operating system.

Redmond, Washington-Microsoft originally had planned to deliver the final production version of Service Pack 2 (SP2) to computer makers on Wednesday, but instead said the update would be release "imminently," possibly within days.

The release comes after an earlier two-month delay and promises by executives that SP2 would ship in August.

"We're on track to deliver in August," said a Microsoft spokesman. "We're focused on delivering a quality software release that meets all of our release criteria."

Microsoft did not specify what caused the last-minute delay, other than it "did not meet final release criteria."

Microsoft, which spent more than $300 million on SP2, said it will make Windows more resilient against worm and hacker attacks and also improve stability of the software.

Service Packs are free major updates to Windows used to fix bugs and add features to the operating system.

Rich Kaplan, a Microsoft vice president, urged users to activate the Automatic Update feature in Windows by going to Microsoft' Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/protect.

Major worms, such as Blaster and MyDoom, have exploited flaws in Windows, causing computers to crash and putting them at risk of data loss, highlighting the challenge Microsoft faces in making its flagship product more secure.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has made it a top priority to improve the security and reliability of its software, after Chairman Bill Gates launched its "Trustworthy Computing" initiative in a companywide memo in early 2002.

Service Pack 2 for Windows XP Home Edition will be about 70 megabytes and the update for Windows XP Professional will be about 92 megabytes.

Shares in Microsoft were down 28 cents, or 1 percent, at $27.78 on Nasdaq in afternoon trade.

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