Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

Here is a classic I lifted from NewsForge
today:

Thought No. 4: Microsoft needs patch
helper

My vote for the unintentional funniest story of
the week showed up courtesy of NewsBytes.
Microsoft announced it was helping out its
users. Because so many hacks had so totally
compromised Windows NT and 2000 that
administrators were getting confused by all
the patches they had to install, Microsoft
announced something called Microsoft
Personal Security Advisor (MPSA). Network
administrators can also run a command line
tool called HotFix Checker (HFNetChk) to help
them figure out which patches their systems
need.

Mischief makers will be delighted to know that
HotFix Checker polls client systems remotely
with an XML routine that enables a third party
to check the patch status of Windows NT 4.0
and Windows 2000 systems -- especially IIS
servers from a remote location. The program
also lets that same third party check the
status of Internet Explorer and any installed
Microsoft SQL server, and then download a
hotfix list for use on the system. The fix will
cost administrators roughly a dollar a seat,
from Shavlik Technologies. By the way, this
tool, and Microsoft's new tool for stand-alone
systems, MPSA, aren't available for Win95 or
98 machines. Guess you should have
upgraded.

One Microsoft vendor was quoted saying
"where are the Solaris patch check tools or
the Linux tools? No other vendor does this." Of
course, on the other hand, no other vendor
has to.