By Jon Bernstein, 1 February 2002 15:54
NEWS Neil Holloway, MD of Microsoft (UK), has defended his company's reputation on security arguing that the whole IT industry needs to put its house in order. Holloway's comments follow the BBC's decision to standardise on Microsoft Pocket PC-compatible handhelds. They also come after a year when Internet Information Server (IIS) and Passport - two of Microsoft's highest-profile products - came under fire from users. Holloway told silicon.com: "Security is not just a Microsoft problem. There is a problem but it is an industry and governmental issue. What we haven't done as an industry is work out how to quickly get patches and fixes out there." Nevertheless, he didn't rule out more security dramas in the coming year. "We are doubling our efforts but I can't sit here and say in the next 12 months there won't be security issues in the industry where we will need to get out a fix." Holloway welcomed the BBC's choice of handhelds. And despite the dozens of silicon.com readers who questioned the BBC's policy on security grounds, he said it was the right decision. "What IT people want is less moving parts and as much integration as possible," he said. "Increasingly handheld devices are being used less for calendar synchronisation and more for business applications. The questions are who are going to write them? And how easy is it going to be to transfer data and integrate them?" For more on Microsoft and security,
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