Vista passes its first Patch Tuesday test

It's Patch Tuesday, and Microsoft has released 12 Critical and Important updates.

But here, where I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate Edition and Office 2007, I didn't have to install a single one of those updates. That's right: None of the vulnerabilities addressed in those security patches affected Vista or Office 2007. [See update at end of post.] For those skeptics who were wondering whether the security-focused changes in the development process would pay off, here's your answer:

Those Important updates? New junk-mail filters for Windows Mail and Outlook 2007. Useful but hardly earth-shattering.

Oh, and for those who've been grumbling that the Windows Vista Ultimate Extras are slow to arrive, check out the item at the bottom of that list. The Windows DreamScene Preview is an early version of the full-motion wallpaper Bill Gates showed off in his keynote at CES last month. That makes three Ultimate Extras, for those who are keeping score.

Update 14-Feb 5:40AM PST: As my colleague Ryan Naraine points out in the Talkback section, one of the February security bulletins indirectly affects Vista. MS07-010 affects the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, which is used in all Microsoft anti-malware products including Windows Defender in Vista. On this system at least, the protection engine had already updated itself to repair this vulnerability.

Just to make the point even more obvious, here's what was waiting on my XP/Office 2003 machine this morning:

Big difference.