This could be the year Microsoft finally solves its patch management problems. In October 2003, CEO Steve Balmer said the vendor was seven months away from delivering a new corporate patch server, tools to streamline patch installation and one patch download site for all its software.

This set of free tools would replace an oft-criticized, mismatched, grab bag of patching software that more often than not deliver conflicting data that left administrators unsure if they were patched or not.

Microsoft's ultimate goal is to have these tools form the foundation of one patch infrastructure that includes free tools for smaller companies and fee-based software, Systems Management Server (SMS) and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), for larger companies.

Ballmer's seven-month ship date came and went in early 2004, and today Microsoft has still not shipped those upgrades to its free products.

"Microsoft must get the patch situation under control," says Ron Sellers, an independent consultant. "Microsoft produces some very good, easy-to-use software with excellent system integration for a very reasonable price. Unfortunately, the cost of patch management may be enough to negate all of the other positives when I have to examine the bottom line."

Microsoft has heard the complaints, but the solution that it's proposing has limitations. The free tools will only work with newer versions of the Windows operating system and only with Microsoft applications.

Experts say the free tools will be great for smaller users with mostly Microsoft software, and less appealing to larger companies that still will need something like SMS, which adds features such as inventory and administrative controls the free tools won't have. Or users will have to turn to third-party tools that handle Microsoft and other platforms, such as Linux, that the software giant ignores.

"Third-party tools have to be considered because users can't wait for Microsoft to deliver the free tools," says Trent Henry, an analyst with Burton Group. "And in many cases, customers have non-Microsoft infrastructure, which is another reason the third-party tools play effectively."

So far, Microsoft's progress has been marked in small steps. In November 2003, Microsoft introduced a monthly release cycle, issuing patches on the second Tuesday of each month. The move let users schedule their patch efforts. In December 2004, Microsoft added advance notice on how many and how critical the Tuesday patches would be. Microsoft also reduced reboots for patch installation by 10%, reduced patch sizes by up to 75% and offered Webcasts guidance whitepapers on patching.

But in the first half of this year, Microsoft's patching past is slated to meet the future Ballmer laid out more than a year ago.