This is part of the Microsoft business model dilemma? They have decided to have one product line, instead of the old home/business division. OK they have different versions of the same thing since XP, but it is the same product.

This is a good idea IMO, as it means that you only have one underlying architecture and you are concentrating your resources, by only having to support that.

The problem as I see it, lies with the end users (doesn't it always )

OK the outgoing firewall protection is turned off by default............ that means that it will never get turned on in most domestic situations.

Those who understand enough to turn it on will not neccessarily want to mess about tuning it "longhand". They will probably give up and turn it off.

If you understand the basic concepts of a firewall you will understand why you have to set rules, and will respond to the prompts accordingly. If you just "click through" then the damn thing might as well not be turned on anyway...........that is life as we know it, and has been since the whole internet thing started.

So, what would be my solution?..............hey, I am the first to admit that we all have 20/20 superior hindsight. Perhaps there should have been an option to chose?............. like with XP you could chose "XP" or "Classic?" for your desktop and display? Maybe some sort of "prompt/don't prompt" option?

I see some logical inconsistencies in your arguments as it happens. On the one hand you say that it is good that outgoing blocking is not enabled, because people will wonder why their internet doesn't work? Well, as soon as they turn it on, they will hit the same problem, won't they?

"The standard"????????????? well the standard appears to be to provide pop-up prompts....................so MS are NOT following it. And Cisco is irrelevant given that this is not hardware, it is a software firewall.

We have already seen people complaining about the Vista OS prompting for "do you really want to do this?" and "you must be an administrator" (when you are already logged in as admin)............. the firewall approach is inconsistent with this.

I do not think that this firewall offering is up to standard for something to be given to a home user.