In addition, Microsoft has come to offer customers a consistent and integrated set of new technologies that reduce the complexity and help customers better manage the update process for Microsoft software. In June we announced the immediate availability of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Microsoft Update (MU). WSUS is the update management component of Windows Server that enables mid-sized and enterprise companies to more easily assess, control and automate the deployment of Microsoft software updates. MU is a new service offered at no charge that gives customers everything they get through Windows Update (WU), plus high priority updates for more recent versions of Office and other Microsoft applications. It's a one-stop destination for updates that help make your computer more secure, up-to-date, and performing at its best.

Only recently in July, we released the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0 which helps improve the security management process by detecting common security misconfigurations and missing security updates on your computer systems. We also released the SMS 2003 Inventory Tool (SMS). This tool enables the detection and deployment of the latest security updates, update rollups and service packs from Microsoft; improved patch management through a more comprehensive and more widely-supported detection technology; broader detection support for more Microsoft products; and consistent product support across multiple detection technologies including parity with Automatic Updates.


The next 12 months will be as busy as these last 12 months have been. The security of our customers' computers and networks will remain a top priority for Microsoft, and Microsoft remains committed to building software and services that will help better protect our customers and the industry. It may never be possible to completely "cure" the security problem, but Microsoft and the MSRC is hard at work every single day, working in conjunction with the industry, with law enforcement, and with experts in government, academia and the private sector around the world to make the impact of malicious hackers as manageable as humanly possible. By building trust in computing our technology can be experienced in the way it was intended: to help customers accomplish what they need and want to do.