Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Releases SP4 for Windows 2000
Snake_Plisken writes "I checked Windows Update today on a lark and found that Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 has been released." You can read a short CNet article discussing the media player patches as well as one more about
the fixes in SP4.
Someone post the diffs between SP3's and SP4's EULAs :)
What do you think we are? a bunch of piraters?
Go here for the change log to Windows 2000 Service Pack Four. Some of the changes are quite amusing.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde
Here's the Service Pack:
1 00 0101001100100000000001111110101010010101010101...
10101010010010001010111101000001010110100111111
Yeah, right! Come out of the closet. You like Microsoft! This guy can't be trusted ;)
Honk if you're horny.
And here you can read about the newest security leak which is not patched by this servicepack ;) :)
That guy who analysed the buffer overflow also found a funny easteregg in the buggy dll file.
Another Microsoft patch? It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays...
Downloading it right now.
In your case, with 100 Win2K boxes, I would suggest installing it on one or two, monitoring the results, and then publishing it incrementally using Software Update Services from a Win2K Server. This at least removes you from the picture and you can go view some porn while it goes off on it's own.
I know this is slashdot, but I have been very impressed with Win2k. It's fast, stable, and reliable. I've flirted with XP a couple times, but I always end up reinstalling 2k.
The Scary part is, I've found Win2000 to be the most stable and reliable Windows ever released. 63,000 defects? I wouldn't doubt it. The part that worries me with how well 2000 works, how many defects do the 9x, XP, and NT versions contain?
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
I wouldn't call a Service Pack for one of the most popular operating systems just "every patch". Service Packs come out about once a year.
And if you really want to talk about relevance, I'll guarantee you there's far more Win 2000 boxes out there than any of the Free OSes...
I checked Windows Update today on a lark...
:)
Quick! Somebody port Linux to a sparrow so we can stay ahead of the curve!
Today songbirds, tomorrow fur bearing mammals!
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
Well my laptop and two of my desktops at work haven't crapped out since installing it this morning. I just got done streamlining CDs for Pro, Server and Advanced server. Something to watch out for - SP4 re-enabled the Background Intelligent Transfer and Automatic Update Services. It doesn't re-enable Automatic Updates if you had that disabled, though.
BTW, the md5sums for the service pack linked to by OSNews (I assume it's the same one that Neowin found.) and the one on the official Microsoft download page are identical.
Actually more than that - they counted as high as 65535, but then their bug-reporting software went titsup.
My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
I think it's telling that even though XP's been out for at least a year, 2000 is still available as an option on new Dells. I asked for it 'special when they ordered my new PC for work.
2000 is, in my opinion, the peak windows OS. It works, plays well with hardware, and doesn't try and mess with the concept of the UI too much. It adds transparency but doesn't mutilate it, and you can turn off the one dumb feature (menu sliding and fading).
XP...well, XP moves shit around on me. Nothing's where I expect it to be. There are all these words...and real estate on menus is sucked up by these complicated sentences that have nothing to do with what I use my computer for.
In short, XP fights my productivity. Every time I try to do something, it slows me down in a way that I only need the first time I do that thing. It's like a tutorial you can't skip past. Whereas Win2k gets things out of my way and only tells me what I need to know. If I need more, it gives me that option.
Even "classic" mode is a bear, because the control panel is all munged up. Erg!
I like Office 2000 better than XP as well...2000 was a good year for MS, maybe it's because it was the last cycle before Balmer came in as Lord of the Sith.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
SUPPLEMENTAL END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
MICROSOFT WINDOWS 2000 SERVICE PACK 4
PLEASE READ THIS SUPPLEMENTAL END-USER
LICENSE AGREEMENT ("SUPPLEMENTAL EULA")
CAREFULLY. BY INSTALLING OR USING THE
SOFTWARE THAT ACCOMPANIES THIS SUPPLEMENTAL
EULA, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS
SUPPLEMENTAL EULA. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO
NOT INSTALL OR USE THE SOFTWARE AND, IF
APPLICABLE, RETURN IT TO THE PLACE OF
PURCHASE FOR A FULL REFUND.
THIS SOFTWARE DOES NOT TRANSMIT ANY
PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION
FROM YOUR COMPUTER TO MICROSOFT
COMPUTER SYSTEMS WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT.
1. GENERAL
This EULA is a legal agreement between you (either an
individual or a single entity) and Microsoft Corporation
("Microsoft"). The accompanying Microsoft software
includes computer software and may include associated
media, printed materials, online or electronic
documentation, and Internet-based services
(collectively, the "Components"). The Components are
provided to update, supplement, or replace existing
functionality of Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional,
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows
2000 Advanced Server, and Microsoft Windows 2000
Datacenter Server (the "Software"). Your use of the
Components is subject to the terms and conditions of
the end user license agreement (either from Microsoft
or some other entity) under which you have previously
licensed the Software (the "Software EULA")
and this Supplemental EULA.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A VALIDLY LICENSED COPY OF
THE SOFTWARE, YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO
INSTALL, COPY OR OTHERWISE USE THE COMPONENTS
AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS UNDER THIS
SUPPLEMENTAL EULA.
2. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF YOUR USE
OF THE COMPONENTS
a. Installation and Use.
Provided you comply with all applicable license terms and
conditions contained in the Software EULA (which are
hereby incorporated by reference except as set forth
below) and this Supplemental EULA, Microsoft grants
you the right to reproduce, install and use one
copy of the Components on each of your computers
that is running a validly licensed copy of
the Software ("Computers").
b. Reservation of Rights.
The Components are protected by copyright and other
intellectual property laws and treaties. Microsoft
Corporation or its suppliers own the title, copyright,
and other intellectual property rights in the Components.
All rights not expressly granted to you in this Supplemental
EULA are reserved. The Components are licensed, not sold.
c. Capitalized Terms.
Capitalized terms used in this Supplemental EULA and not
otherwise defined herein shall have the meanings assigned
to them in the Software EULA.
3. AUTOMATIC INTERNET-BASED SERVICES.
The Software features described below are enabled by
default to connect via the Internet to Microsoft
computer systems automatically, without separate
notice to you. You consent to the operation
of these features, unless you choose to switch
them off or not use them. Microsoft does not
obtain personally identifiable information
through any of these features. For more
information about these features, please see
your Software documentation or the Microsoft
online support site.
a. Windows Update Features.
Under the Software's default configuration, if you connect
a device to your Computer and the correct device driver is
not available on your Computer, then Windows Update
features on your Computer (including Device Manager
and the Plug & Play CDM Module) automatically attempt
to check Microsoft computer systems via the Internet
for the correct device driver. Having this happen
automatically makes Plug-and-Play
Unless that hardware is a laptop. XP is much more laptop friendly. Also, if you care about amount of time to boot, XP is a win as well.
"and doesn't try and mess with the concept of the UI too much."
Under XP:
Switch to Classic Theme (Display->Themes)
Turn off Effects (Display->Appearance->Effects)
Get rid of the rest of the visual effects (System->Advanced->Performance Options->Visual Effects.
"Even "classic" mode is a bear, because the control panel is all munged up. Erg!"
As another poster mentioned: switch to the old style control panel.
I like Office 2000 better than XP as well
It's faster, it takes less memory... But it's MDI, and it was worth the upgrade to Office XP for me just to get away from Windows 3.1 style MDI windows.
"Come on, how many icons and groupings can a default win2k have wrong? I doubt they have 10,000 help pages."
:)
Doesn't sound like ya know, does it? I don't know how you can leap from an "I doubt" comment to a "this is clearly..." statement.
"This is why Windoze 2000 can't run more than a few days in a row."
Funny, I had a home-made Tivo running Windows 2000 that had an average up-time of 3 months. I've got an NT4 Exchange Server that's been up for 80 days here. We used to have an IIS webserver running gon NT4. It was up for well over 6 months. We never needed to restart it, but we did have to physically move it a couple of times. My desktop machine has been running for about 13 days now. It'd have gone longer but my UPS is flaking out on me. Not bad for a machine that I do 3D animation and play games on.
" Trust your observations to tell you that software simply sucks."
Think I'd be defending 2K if I had 'observed' that the software 'simply sucks'?
"Balderdash! Windows2000 runs on intel 386. Wince runs on ARM. That's it. What do you think this is, free software that's compiled to specific x86 processor families, Motorola, ARM, Alpha, "
A machine is not a processor, it's a complete setup. Never heard of the old "Windows is on 90% of desktops" stastic before?
"you will always be at the mercy of the service patch that requires you to give up hope of privacy."
Actually, if you had read the EULA instead of going by the sensationalized Slashdot version of it, you'd know that the purpose isn't for MS to go sniffin around your machine. The reason it's there is to support a number of the features they added to Windows to deal with the virus problems that have been plaguing it. Go read it.
"Pull your head out of your closed source place please."
I would suggest you do a little thinking on your own instead of repeating all the stuff you've heard on Slashdot that gets modded +5 Insightful.
"Free software has fewer bugs and does more than any dinky windoze distro will ever. "
That's a myth. I'll give the Open Source community credit for responding to bugs in a timely manner, but you need to face facts that Open Source Software is rarely both well designed and bug free. Run a few commercial apps in front of an ordinary user and then run a few free apps in front of an ordinary user, most of the time he or she will be able to tell you which is which. "well, the commercial one seems to be friendlier to me while the free one is confusing to use."
" The complextiy you are thinking of is a legacy of all the dirty tricks M$ used over the years to kill of software rivals. That does not exist in free software and never will. "
Yeah, that's scientific. Heh.
"This is why free software PCs don't have to be turned off until the power fails."
Riiiiiiiight. We'll see how stable your Linux machine gets when games start becoming available. You'll find out just how 'rock-solid' it is then. Linux machines are not being used like Windows machines are, so drawing comparisons like that is not very informative.
Nice bit of Linux propoganda tho. Bucking for a +5 Insightful?