Personally, I would like to know what was wrong with Windows Update that needed fixing. Seriously. WU has been running for....well, since Win98 at least, with periodic updates. If you didn't have the latest version of WU, you were given the option of either installing the new version, or going without patches. It didn't matter how old your old version of WU was, you could always update to the latest version, and then apply the patches.

It was all well and good until Microsoft decided to integrate WU with the operating system. That wasn't all bad, really--since most users don't care about security, it was fine for XP to download and install updates on its own by default. Since then, however, it appears that they have begun to assert more and more authority over our computers. If I recall correctly, this isn't the first time there's been a forced update contrary to the user's wishes. It's just that this is the first time it's had nasty consequences.