Programming Windows: Springboard (Premium)

With Longhorn development creeping along with no end in sight, Microsoft also worked to improve Windows XP, which would remain in the market for far longer than originally intended. There were various efforts along these lines in the early 2000s, from new XP product editions like Media Center and Tablet PC to various digital media- and home networking-related improvements and add-ons. But the biggest push, by far, was an internal project called Springboard that would dramatically elevate XP’s---and, as it turned out, Windows Server 2003’s---security posture.

Springboard ended up being such a big update that Microsoft could have shipped it as a new version of Windows on both client and server that would have sat between XP/Server 2003 and Longhorn. But instead, Windows lead Jim Allchin decided to do right by his customers and ship it as a free update. It was just one of several responsible and credible decisions that Allchin would make during Longhorn’s tortuous development process.

Springboard was quickly branded as Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) on the client and as Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) on the server, unassuming names that did nothing to convey the massive changes that would come to these two systems. But that was part of the strategy: these updates would bring bigger changes under the covers than most major new Windows versions, and they would be more disruptive to users than the upgrades from Windows 2000 to XP/2003. But Microsoft wanted to ensure that as many customers as possible moved forward to these new versions as quickly as possible. Where Windows XP SP1 and Windows Server 2003 paid lip service to the Trustworthy Computing security push, Springboard would technically embody its ideals. It would put action to the words.

Microsoft had originally designed service packs so that its business customers could aggregate previously released security and bug fixes into a single, more easily deployable package in the days of expensive connectivity. And over time, they evolved service packs so that they could be slipstreamed into a specific version of Windows. That way, IT administrators could deploy, say, Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 (SP4) at the same time, rather than separately, saving lots of time.

Microsoft’s history with these updates was, to that point, mixed, with the firm sometimes using them to add new features as well. After its corporate customers rebelled over the feature additions, the software giant experimented with other ways to deliver new features mid-stream via so-called Option Packs and Feature Packs. Because Windows was updated so often in the late 1990s and early 2000s, these were rarely necessary.

But with all the Longhorn delays requiring XP/2003 to remain in the market for longer than originally expected, Microsoft needed to recalibrate. It started shipping smaller update rollups that would bundle previously released security updates into more easily deployed packages ...