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Windows XP SP2 Beta Reviewed
worm eater writes "Ars Technica has a characteristically thorough review of Windows XP Service Pack 2 Beta, with plenty of screen shots. In a nutshell, it's all about security fixes, including a seriously beefed up firewall. The final release is expected this summer." The review concludes: "Overall, Microsoft has made a step in the right direction with this service pack. The increased focus on security will be good not only for the average user who does not spend much time thinking about security her system, but also for 'power users' and those who work supporting end users."
IE has been updated with some good things, but does anyone know if they have fixed the numerous issues that standards oriented web developers have to work around? The png issues, box model issues, absolute positioning issues, etc?
Microsoft is holding back many websites from doing some amazing designs because of their lack of standard compatibility.
"BEHOLD, CORN!!" - Dr. Weird, ATHF
Sure it is about time that IE gets a popup blocker, but one thing I'd like to see improved about IE would be its horridly aged quirky, standards-violating rendering engine. It is the "Netscape 4" of today.
But of course at about 95% of the global browser market share Microsoft see no need to improve that vital component of the browser.
Internet Explorer's browser monopoly is hurting the progress badly by locking the majority to legacy HTML that we should have left behind in the 90's already.
while true; do eject; eject -t; done
Speaking as a phone tech support drone for a large university, many of these changes will be most welcome. The "Blaster" incident cost our university thousands of dollars in overtime and set back all of the activities that were going on at the beginning of the school year.
However, i'm not so sure that the fancier firewall will be such a good thing unless it is implemented properly. Ever since the newer version of AIM that came out in August or September 2003, we have been flooded with calls of it blinking on and off. These problems have been traced to ZoneAlarm - another free firewall that many people use because the one in XP was insufficient. If the new firewall has trouble with an application that is as popular as AIM is among our college students, it could create more problems then its worth for IT departments everywhere.
It may sound as if i'm overreacting for such a simple thing, but try working in IT for a few weeks and receiving over 150 phone calls a day from disgruntled students cussing you out because they can't chat with their friends.
Overall, its long past due that Microsoft focus on security instead of whizz-bang features that serve to slow down the O/S and cause it to be more unstable. XP Professional was a step in the right direction as far as stability, but the security issues are most definitely a large concern, especially to those of us with a phone to our ear.
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson
The one problem with developing useful 3rd party apps under MS is that its just a matter of time.. Of course this is something that Microsoft had to do eventually, especially now that people are getting infected before they get a chance to download security updates. 3rd Party Windows software companies of basic utility sw can now only protect their investments by (ab)using patent law... (eg The One Click Firewall, One-Click Unzip etc...) or having a better support infrastructure (not easy)