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Windows XP SP2 Goes Gold
writertype writes "PC Magazine reports that Microsoft has released Windows XP SP2 to PC OEMs after a two-day delay. A package of stories, complete with an exploration of the new update, is here. The best way for users to get the update, according to Microsoft, is to have Windows Update turned on; a CD version will be made available." Reader Critical_ writes "With all the news of SP2 being delayed, it seems like Microsoft may have pulled a rabbit out of its hat by releasing RTM on its WindowsBeta site. Neowin has a screenshot of the download page and MSFN has the release information. The final build is 2180. For those who can't download it for whatever reason, Microsoft is giving away free CDs here. Happy installing."
I'm a sysadmin mulling over exactly when 'enough people' will have tested it to deploy and roll out myself.
Jabba the Lawyer
if this dog eats your homework?
Is it fascism yet?
"Microsoft (almost) made it close to an original deadline?"
Close is such a relative word.
Wasn't the very original deadline sometime mid-last year?
I know replying to my own post is a baddy, but I had a follow-up thought: Has anyone tried to install this patch on a system dual-booting with Linux? Not that I think MS would do anything evil...like destroying the MBR, and thus, LILO. Cough Cough. Any commentary/experience with this?
There are still enough of us who prefer Win2K to XP. There have been multiple remote vulnerabilities exposed since SP4. So how about rolling up the latest hotfixes and giving us SP5?
A friend of a friend would like to know..
Since version 5 of windows update refuses to let anyone with a corporate key download this, does anybody have any legitimate mirrors for SP2?
Also, apparently, neowin reports SP2 accepts those evil keys.
It makes one wonder.. why allow SP2 to install on pirated copies, but refuse to let people update via the windows update site?
I'm seeing torrents for several diff file sizes (266 and 271mb) ....whats the difference?
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
I've had the SP2 RC2 on my box for some time now. I'm actually surprised by how stable it has been. I've even been able to play Doom 3 with no crashes. I can't really say how the security improvements are, but the one thing that I have noticed is that wireless networking seems to have improved much. Also, it doesn't seem like the firewall was working too well (at least for outbound traffic).
SIGFAULT
So?
..and they're just about to get a visit from 'Mister Servicepack'.
I bet a lot more than 3 out of 5 home users machines are full of spyware too.
Oh dear....
We actually got an e-mail alert today from the company that makes our phone system server and client software that said if we installed XP SP2 it would break their software. Oh, and they have a patch forthcoming for the latest version, which we've had issues upgrading too. I don't know if this is Microsoft's fault or the company that wrote the software, most likely a little of both, but we won't be deploying for a while. The patch for our version isn't going to be release immediately. How many others are having this problem?
I found this line interesting:
"Microsoft will use metered downloads to update users steadily without bogging down the entire Internet."
*Strokes chin* How do they do this, exactly? By IP? By Product Key? What determines when someone will get it?
Hopefully we'll see SP2 on Torrents soon.
I agree with PCMag on this. Microsoft still doesn't get it. To continue the Microsoft analogy, they gave the bad guys a key to the deadbolt.
Looks like I'll be continuing to ignore the built in firewall in favor of a real one.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1631256,00.as p
End of Line.
It's interesting how drastically different the Windows and Linux culture (or maybe I should say mindset) is amongst professionals. (Don't mark me as a flame/troll, hear me out...)
When Windows comes out with a new releases (Windows 2000, Windows XP, etc.), people tend to 'hold back' and wait to see if it breaks things. Even with point releases (SP1, SP2, etc.) there seems to be a fair amount of trepidation when considering to upgrade even a personal machine - after all, not only do you need to reinstall Windows, you also have to reinstall every fucking application, and likely delete or move files around that are in the wrong part of the fs tree that you want saved, or what have you. It can take a long, long time to do all this, particularly if the machine is a personal machine and hasn't been reinstalled in years.
Linux is quite the opposite, for the most part. New beta release? People hit the download servers like a rugby player hits the after-game party. Some folks (debian stable fans) might hold back a bit, but it seems like, for the majority of desktop users, they want the latest, greatest thing. Installing all the applications is, for the most part, trivial: set everything up to install, and click "Next", then come back an hour later and you're ready to go (once again, for the most part). The time investment is significantly lower to get the needed software installed (knowledge of how to do it not withstanding).
I recently had to reinstall a Windows desktop machine from scratch (full format). The whole process, from the insertion of the Windows disk into the drive, to the "fuck, I'm finally done. I need (another) drink," took nearly 4 hours due to having to constantly insert various software disks, continual reboots for software updates and driver finickyness, and this was a fairly modern machine (installing win2k, axp 2000+, 512M, 7200rpm 80G).
IMO, the best thing MS could do for Longhorn, now that they've supposedly fixed their security underpinning problems, would be to make a 'universal' install mechanism so that reinstallation of a system would be relatively trivial. Make a 'network install' wizard which would install the core OS, and then query a server on the network (or a local disk) which would contain directories (or disk images, I guess) of applications or games - whatever. It would then install the software without prompting for the serial, name, or what have you.
As a result, I would imagine that all software written for longhorn would then be required to use a specific 'installation api', so MS could have more control over security and other such things, in addition to simply being able to install it via this method. This whole process would, IMO, make reinstallation of Windows much, much more geek friendly, more friendly for repair shops (copy all the CDs the person has to the drive, enter their registration codes into a text file in the root 'software-to-install' dir, reboot the system and wait for it to come back up after a dozen or so reboots with a fully functional OS), or even corporations. It'd probably take a healthy chunk out of the reimaging software markets, as well as the 3rd party installation software (Install Shield or what have you), but IMO, it would be worth it if it makes windows somewhat less shitty in the useability dept.
I've got a Windows machine that I've got to fix this weekend - seemably broken by a virus which is possibly still resident, but none of the virus scanning packages are able to find it. Copy/paste doesn't work, a lot of control panel applets don't work, etc. I don't relish having to do each item independently.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Put SP2 on two machines
on one of my laptops, it worked fine. Done.
On my desktop, I can no longer see the contents of my second NTFS drive. Uninstalling SP2 leaves me still unable to see it.
Ugh, and it seemed like a decent upgrade besides that.
What did you eat today? http://www.atetoday.com/
Please give me a reason why this is NOT valid reason. I personally hate sys admins who like to abuse power and make other people's jobs harder. In fact, everyone should have local administrative access - there is no reason for them not to. Just give it with the caveat that if they muck up, they're on their own.
Try telling that to the company president after they've installed enough spyware/adware to effectively cripple their machines. Any admin worth their pay is going to have automated tools to take care of just about anything that comes up for installs and system changes. If someone needs something, all I have to do is push out the package and it's installed in the background while they're still working. When the little blinky thing disappears from their system tray, they know they can use it.
Giving the average user admin privileges on their machine is a foolish act, and is asking for all sorts of extra hours cleaning up preventable problems. Hell, my own account doesn't even have admin, I have to log in with a separate one for that.