We have all read about the problems with software updates. (The image is from an Italian outfit which needs to read this story closely.)

They're not always done. They identify vulnerabilities hackers then exploit.

Well here's another problem, for those system admistrators who follow good update procedures.

Updates are making Windows systems incompatible. And this means big problems for Windows developers.

Windows XP Service Pack 2, due out next month, has some major security fixes. If you try and turn on a random Internet port, the firewall will close it down. If you were relying on that feature to communicate between components, or a machines in a distributed application....OOPS.

Microsoft has a complete list of the changes on its Web site.

What it means, software developers, is a lot of sleepless nights, adapting to something you had nothing to do with.