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Microsoft has Delayed SP2, Again

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the back-to-the-drawing-board dept.

I_am_Rambi writes "According to news.com.com "Microsoft has again delayed a long-awaited update to Windows XP, citing quality concerns. The company had planned to wrap up development this week on Windows XP Service Pack 2, but a Microsoft representative said late Wednesday that the software giant had decided that more work was needed on the update before if could be released to manufacturing." Yea, if 3 out of 5 machines failed to come back up, it needs some polishing."

16 of 425 comments (clear)

  1. FYI: The SP2 RC2 problems are spyware related by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The whole "three out of five machines failed to come back up" after installing SP2 RC2 should not frighten you from trying it.

    The original article said quit clearly that the problem they had was that they'd get a bluescreen and "A message stated that 'winserv' was missing."

    What the article didn't say was what "winserv" actually is. It's not part of Windows. In fact, it is spyware. Plain and simple.

    So the problem, then, with Windows XP SP2 RC2 is that it doesn't work when the operating system has been corrupted beyond repair by spyware that hooks into various DLLs and services in an attempt to prevent itself from being uninstalled.

    1. Re:FYI: The SP2 RC2 problems are spyware related by amRadioHed · · Score: 5, Funny

      The problem is clearly with Microsoft's developer relations. Does MS give beta releases of their upcoming updates to all the trojan and spyware authors on a regular bases? I think not! How can they expect these poor developers to update their warez to run with the new service pack? You can't release a new OS and expect all the spyware to just work.

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  2. Missed their goal by b12arr0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard they were after a "4 out of 5" failure rate.

  3. Thank God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Working for a broadband provider, I really wasn't looking forward to walking customers thru troubleshooting after their machines were hosed... this delay shoudl buy me enough time to find a new job.

  4. Good by darth_MALL · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nice to see a much-hyped rollout delayed as a quality control measure. From Microsoft no less. Step in the right direction PR-wise if you ask me.

  5. How configurable is the SP? by Greg+Larkin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I read in the paper this morning that SP2 will be doing things like turning on the WinXP firewall by default and gawd knows what else. Does anyone know if we'll be able to easily see all of its proposed "helpful" actions and disable the ones we don't want? For instance, I already have a hardware firewall, so I don't need the software firewall to be enabled.

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  6. SP2 Name Convention by mrpuffypants · · Score: 5, Funny

    "In other news Microsoft has announced that WinXP SP2 has been internally renamed "Longhorn" to more closely coincide with their projected release schedules."

  7. Dupe!! by wolfemi1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    HA! This is a duplicate!

    Oh, wait, it was delayed again?!

  8. Windows problems by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Every 'softie I've heard from who has seen the Windows code base has said the same thing: it is a labyrinthine collection of objects and subsystems that nobody really understands at a high level. It's actually a miracle that the whole thing builds in the first place. So when they change a few things for a service pack, a dozen other things break.

    Microsoft deserves these problems. Their software is too tightly integrated. The benefit of having highly modular software is that problems tend to not spread beyond a single module or subsystem.

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  9. If there is one software company... by Nuttles · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Out of all the software compainies in the world, Microsoft is the company that has the resources to build and maintain software right. They definitely have the talent. I think the issue here is big corporation politics. Microsoft should put more of an investment into their public image (at least try to get an image comparable to lets say Google). Sure, it may not give them as big as returns pumping more people into the XP camp (service pak 2) and less into lets say Long horn, but get step one right before going to step two. The trust they will gain by the public would earn them money in the future...probably more than their current practices.

    Nuttles

    Christian and proud of it

  10. I work at Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    People are installing SP2 internally all over the place and I certainly haven't heard of "3 out of 5" computers dying. In fact I haven't heard anything bad at all.

    I have been running SP2 since RC1 with no problems myself.

    1. Re:I work at Microsoft by MooseByte · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "People are installing SP2 internally all over the place and I certainly haven't heard of "3 out of 5" computers dying. In fact I haven't heard anything bad at all."

      Then maybe you should email Ballmer and tell him the delay isn't needed, and he should just get some balls and release it.

      Or maybe, just maybe, the average user that's going to have to install this thing doesn't benefit from a huge Redmond IT staff, firewalls, NATs, etc.

      No offense, but if this is the typical thought in Redmond cubicals ("Works for me! Must be rock-solid!") then the last 15+ years of Microsoft treating their users as beta testers makes a lot more sense.

  11. Come on now by kevinmf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Come on now - you have to give microsoft some credit. This update is a major overhaul to the OS. Look at kernel updates for linux. You have to be careful as hell, making sure all of your drivers are still compatible, libs all still work, etc etc. SP2 is along the lines of a linux kernel upgrade.

    You really have to give MS some credit because all of their drivers will be working with SP2, as well as most software. Sure, linux upgrades might come out more often, but you have to admit - actually applying them is a lot more intensive than simply clicking 'next, next, next, yes i will reboot now.'

    Anyway, I think people are WAY to hard on MS. For going almost 15 years now and barely breaking backwards compatibility, they seriously deserve more credit than the slashdot crowd gives them. Good luck to em with this new upgrade.

  12. This just in: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "3 out of 5 machines failed to come back up"

    We've just recieved word that 3 out of 5 Windows systems use a commonly pirated CD-KEY.

    DeMe

  13. roll other software packages into SP2 by insomnyuk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wouldn't it be fantastic if the SP2 updater would first run Ad-Aware or an equivalent and kill all the spywarer on the machine before installing the actual updates? After rebooting, users would be astonished by how quickly Windows would work.

    'Holy Crap Maude, my WeatherBug is gone but this thing shore is runnin quick!'

  14. Good security by Nahor · · Score: 5, Funny
    Yea, if 3 out of 5 machines failed to come back up, it needs some polishing.
    Yes, until 5 out of 5 machines fail to come back up, there will be security issues.
    The thing I don't understand is why it takes so long to prevent all machines from booting....