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Microsoft Delays Windows XP Service Pack 2
Rinisari writes "DesignTechnica, among some others
, explains that Microsoft has once again delayed its release of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, though only until August. Microsoft has declined to comment on the reason for the delay. Windows Update v5, however, is online and operational (and works with Service Pack 1!), although not officially so. I know many smaller education institutions are chomping at the bit with the looming release, as they are worried about compatibility with some of the new features in Service Pack 2."
Hmmm, I guess MS has decided to take a little (read: tiny) more aggressive stance towards piracy, no more automagic updates for you. Although we do have an Action Pack subscription (XP Pro), so we do have more then enough licenses, we use XP Corp CD/Keys to ignore that stupid activation, but it looks like it came back to bite us in the ass.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Just an opinion on the V5 Windows Update. Yes it does detect invalid products (my friends = owned). Does this mean Microsoft are getting more serious since they haven't done this before? I mean, if they could of stopped more users from using a product illegally, why not do it before cause from what I heard, rumors say crackers found a way to bypass this.
they cannot be stopped.
Does anybody know whether these new changes/features (in IE and elsewhere) will ever make it into Windows 2000 (which at the moment seems to be the most preferred Windows at least in corporate environments). Win2k SP4 pretty much covered everything in XP SP1, but not much has been mentioned since then.
It's fairly ridiculous that this SP is delayed.. again... however, IMHO its a good move on their part, because (hopefully) it means that they are including more useful security fixes etc. in it. And its silly that those even need to be release this much after the fact, but they might as well get them all (well, most of them) in there now, so there's not SP2a, SP2b, SP2security patch 229q etc.
I recall an operating system that was fairly rushed to get out, called Windows 95, that really sucked. Hopefully, though this is only an SP, the delay will prevent rush-to-get-it-out-crappiness.
sigSEGV - doy!
sigSEGV - doy!
"chomping at the bit with the looming release, as they are worried about compatibility with some of the new features in Service Pack 2."
I'm sure they're all worried about compatibility issues. Everyone is. But with school starting in August...and the release date in August...there's going to be zero time to work out the kinks before students start hitting the labs full force.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Heads up to you admins out there, the update to WindowsUpdate is more than trivial. Ability to (more easily) view patch install history, Admin options for downloading patches for multiple OS's, not-so-obvious new method of showing you exactly what you're installing...If you've taught techs/users to do this, they're going to have to be re-taught when it goes live.
Virutal PC 7 is not coming until SP2 is out according to Microsoft so us Mac users can be assured the latest in security.
Or Microsoft is stalling because they're not finished with VPC7. One of the two.
Why don't they just release an XP interim security service pack? Surely they have enough already working in SP2 that they can get at least SOME of the fixes out the door sooner?
Cripes, even something that just defaults a user's firewall to "on" and obscure ports to "off" would be a head start.
Normally I'd say fine, the longer the better - lets me get Firefox into wider distribution
Alright, a few weeks ago i walked my parents through setting up firefox over the phone. I don't want them touching IE with a 10 foot pole. I have heard there is an app from MS for running Windows Update without a web browser. anyone have any more details? any experience using it?
hfc.
Does it work with the activex plugin for mozilla?
http://www.iol.ie/~locka/mozilla/plugin.htm
I'm curious but not enough so to put a hole like activex in firefox.
In my eyes, IANAL, it's perfectly legal, we paid for the (insert num of licenses here, 5-10 iirc), so we should be able to install XP Pro that many times. To me we pay for a license to use XP, not for a specific CD Key, so to me, it shouldn't matter that we're using the Corp version of XP Pro, it's still XP Pro just w/o the pointless activation. Again, IANAL.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
There are a couple of pieces that I'd like (e.g. the pop-up blocker), but for the most part, I really don't care and it's a problem that's best suited till later. I don't feel like piecing my way through the gpo that you'll need to setup to configure the "firewall" the right way.
I'm much more looking forward to Mcafee's next release which will include a buffer overrun protector and its own spyware killer(which I bet will work a bit better).
--pete
Does anyone know why AutoPatcher wants to install like 30-40 "hotfixes", even though WindowsUpdate says I'm completely up to date?
Doesn't make much sense to me.. and makes me reluctant to use AutoPatcher.
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
This couldn't have worked out better if the Linux community had planned it. 1) Numerous recent IE exploits convinced thousands of people to try different browsers. These people (and likely a lot of their friends) have now realized that IE != The Internet. 2) Now, MS cuts off security updates to some of those users and other users who either got XP from a friend or bought a "bargain" PC from a fly-by-night outfit that used corporate keys. 3) The type of people mentioned in #2 don't like paying a lot for stuff. What are they going to do now as an upgrade path?: Try Linux for free, and/or pay several hundred dollars for an XP license? Now, ever Linux user out there, here's your mission: Burn a dozen copies of Knoppix and hand them out to everyone that has issues with SP2. I see converts in them thar hills.
I don't see how you can come to this conclusion. Product Activation is a total non-event for the vast majority of customers. It's way less invasive than some of the other copy protection schemes the industry has seen over the years.
I sure prefer it to the fragile, tenuous daisy chain of serial port dongles I had in the 80s and it's way better than copy-protected media that was impossible to back up.
In the years I've been running XP, the product activation has caused me _zero_ difficulty, and that's on home-built hardware that's been upgraded and changed quite a bit over the years.
I haven't booted my legal Longhorn machine in a while. Does anyone know if it can access Windows Update now? It had been giving messages in the past about Update 5 still being in Beta.
Thanks!
-Patrick
"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
Ah, nothing like stealing more then $10,000 worth of software and then trying to justify it. It is pretty pathetic. This is why I have ONE copy of Win XP Pro at home and all my other boxes run Fedora. I get the same or better fetures without trying to have to justify stealing.
Current prices according to MS:
XP Pro - $279.99 x 5 = $1,399.95
Server 2003 Ent - $3,999 x 2 = $7,998.00
--------------------
$9,397.95
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
For some unknown reason, my XP box recently asked me to reactivate the product key when I booted. The machine would not recognise the DSL modem so I had to, god forbid, call the MS telephone support line.
It was a fairly lengthy process but it worked just fine. Certainly less painful than other methods. One of the software products we run at work still uses a dongle, it's a complete PITA.