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Today I went down into Atlanta for the Microsoft “Security Matters” series. It’s a day-long event where Microsoft talks about what they’re doing in their products that address security. I’ve got to admit that I went mostly out of curiosity because I’ve always found it funny when people use the words “Microsoft” and “security” in the same sentence.

A few things I came away with:

• A free tshirt (always a plus)
• A copy of “Protect Your Windows Network” by Johansson and Riley (also free)
• I’m looking forward to Vista. It looks like they’ve really stepped up the security on their OS platform. Sure, it couldn’t get any worse, but it’s nice to see them at least trying.
• NAP (”Network Access Protection”) looks really good. I’ve hit issues in a corporate network where I could really use the features NAP will offer.
• Vista’s firewall will be on by default (like XP SP2) but will also control outbound connections.

There was a lot more to the day, but it’s late. Some of it came across as Microsoft trying to control the world, but I sort of expected some of that. Overall, I had a good time. And if any of you see Bill Gates tomorrow, tell him I said thanks for the free lunch.