IE Updates

Oddly, the Windows Update option for Microsoft XP as found in the IE8 Tools menu (Internet Explorer 8) does NOT go to an HTTPS site but instead to http://www.update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate even though just going to https://www.update.microsoft.com/ provides the XP user of IE an HTTPS site for updates!

Why does MS even keep that HTTP target on-line?

What would such a minor update to IE8 have cost the accidental collosus?

Microsoft WebMatrix

Although an install of Microsoft WebMatrix is free, it is not at all clear to me why I would want to install it for personal use.  Do I want to use SQL Server ?  I have Joomla, MySQL5, SQLite3, Moodle and WordPress now at my hosted site - which is running on shared linux - what advantage accrues to me by moving to Windows at my host?  What could induce me to make that move?

But suppose that I have volunteered to set up a web site for a non-profit group.  If I know enough to know what they need and that a hosted site will suffice, how is it that I would still need WebMatrix to accomplish the tasks involved?

Here is what they say:
Start from open source web applications, built-in web templates or just start writing code yourself


So, if in their words, I can just start writing code, why would I use WebMatrix?  Is Silverlight now open-source? What they appear to be plugging is Visual Studio in the 2010 Express version and whatever we are supposed to call MS "Expression" [ possibly Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Web Professional ]  They have one word right: "web" as in near invisible trap woven so as not to be noticed.

Is this how HTML5 will somehow appear to mean Microsoft HTML5 ?