Microsoft IT also published a document about how it manages inbound e-mail traffic, with a specific concentration on spam and malware-infected messages. The paper touts its use of Exchange and Outlook with its new beefed-up spam filters, but does make specific references to third-party products that are also required. It's worth reading, especially if you're an Exchange admin. You can get the second paper here.

And if that's not enough reading for you, Microsoft's busy elves also spent the weekend delivering The Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Security Guide and the Microsoft Threats and Countermeasures Guide (Version 2.0).

I actually like the first one. Windows Server 2003 really is a huge step up from a security standpoint over previous Windows server iterations, and finding all the relevant features -- and managing them when you do -- can be difficult. For those in that boat, this is the guide for you.

The Threats and Countermeasures Guide, however, should have been held back until Version 3 because, although it's up to date for threat settings for Windows Server 2003, its threat settings for Windows XP Pro cover only SP1. Hey, SP2 isn't all that new, folks. I don't think it's too much to ask that new documentation, especially from All-Seeing Redmond itself, should take that into account.

Want a prediction for 2006? This is only the start of Microsoft's security push: By year's end, these folks want to be considered frontrunners in the network security market. Love the attitude, but'Oliver doesn't think they'll be able to pull off that kind of perception shift in that kind of timeframe. Let's talk again in 2007.