Microsoft fixes Windows Update site
Posted by me101 on 16 January 2002 - 14:22 · no comments & 159 views
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Now, after a five-day outage, Microsoft, on Tuesday, have fixed a technician's error allowing Windows users to once again access critical operating system updates on the company's Web site.
"The software was updated on Thursday, and there was an error in the update," a Microsoft representative said. "Now it's fixed."
The problem affected Microsoft's domain-name-service (DNS) servers; computers that act as the yellow pages of the Internet. Normally, the DNS servers provide the numerical Internet addresses of various Internet services -- or, in this case, Microsoft-specific services -- at the request of Web browsers or other programs.
Yet for nearly a week the process went awry, leaving Windows users unable to reach the servers that stored the update code. Among the updates was a critical security patch for a problem that could leave PCs running Windows XP open to attack by online intruders.
"Anytime you try to make things easier for users in some ways, you can screw up in other ways," said Will Zachmann, an industry analyst at market researcher Meta Group. "The whole thing with updates is an annoyance. They have had some glitches with it, and they have to work it out."
Grant said the new product is aimed at large enterprise customers and will allow them to make use of any IP-based LAN for telephony services.
It can be used to extend VoIP to remote offices without a PBX, but those end-users will need a broadband connection such as DSL.
Strachman said the NEAX 2400 is still a TDM voice product at heart. "This is a hybrid," Strachman said. "NEC is essentially rigging their traditional PBX to handle IP."
He emphasized, however, that this was an appropriate strategy. "There is no reason to do VoIP just for the sake of doing it. NEC has a solid customer base doing traditional TDM telephony. This is a way for them to migrate to IP where they see a need."
Businesses with lots of small, remote offices might find this appealing, Strachman continued. "You could give all those offices four-digit dialing without having to install a PBX in each one," he said.
Grant said NEC's strategy is to end the debate about pure VoIP vs. TDM. "With our new NEAX 2400 you get to keep all your old PBX functions and still move to VoIP."
According to Strachman, about 15 percent to 20 percent of businesses in the United States are now using some VoIP.