Earlier this week, Neowin reported (article) the first wave of malicious viruses may surface sooner than expected for Microsoft"s latest version of Windows Vista - specifically targeting their new command shell, codenamed "Monad". Now, Microsoft is reporting the targeted command shell will not be included in Windows Vista when the OS finally ships late 2006.
"Monad will not be included in the final version of Windows Vista and there is no relation between Monad and Windows Vista Beta 1," stated Stephen Toulouse, a representative for Microsoft"s Security Response Center. "Monad is being considered for the Windows Operating System platform for the next three to five years. So these potential viruses do not affect Windows Vista or any other version of Windows if "Monad" has not been installed on the system."
While it is now clear that the new command line shell won"t ship as part of Vista, it is still unclear how the technology will be delivered. Microsoft representatives have said Monad would first ship as a feature of Exchange 12, the next release of Microsoft"s e-mail server, due in the second half of 2006.