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IBM Tells Employees To Hold Off WinXP SP2

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hold-yer-horses dept.

robpoe writes "As reported by ZDNet, IBM's technology department has warned internal users to not install Windows XP SP2 until IBM can fix some known issues with the way IE6 is updated, and Big Blue can make a customized version of the patch - 'The company's technology department said the delay is 'due to known application problems and incompatibility with IBM workstation applications.''" However, the article also mentions that: "One IBM employee in the company's internal technology department characterized the decision as routine."

7 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. This is normal for an enterprise. by rdunnell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hey, lots of companies install policies on their IT assets that flat out prevent installing unauthorized patches on corporate systems.

    This is a pretty big patch, and people have known for a while that it's going to change the way some things work. It makes sense to show caution before allowing a mass deployment. There's not much news here.

  2. The same as any large organisation? by trout_fish · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Isn't this sort of decision standard in any large organisation? As with any upgrade, IBM will want to ensure that the upgrade isn't going to break any internal applications. No large organisation is going to want employees installing significant OS upgrades without central verification.

    1. Re:The same as any large organisation? by SilentChris · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's standard in smaller organizations as well. My company is going to take a few months to "kick the tires" so to speak. When we're satisfied, we'll roll it out. Until then, my home machine is a guinea pig. :)

  3. PR by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    IBM's technology department has warned internal users to not install Windows XP SP2 until IBM can fix some known issues

    And of course, the first thing that happens is, this internal memo somehow finds its way to ZDNet. Looks like PR FUD to me.

    It's good though, at least Microsoft gets a little of its own medicine once in a while...

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  4. As an IBMer myself ... by MarkTina · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The reason we're being told to hold off is that the new IE might not be compatible with some internal applications on the intranet (stuff like, payroll, expenses claims etc). There's no wording that SP2 breaks stuff in general, just that some critical IBM apps are effected. So stop scare mongering!

  5. Understanble by rf0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Its better to have a system with known quirks than an system with unknown quirks

    Rus

    --
    Cheap UK and US VPS
  6. Re:Funny by Pieroxy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So if you deployed a Linux on 10000 machines on all your tech, marketing, IT, sales teams computers, and you had developped specific applications, drivers for some specific devices, and all the crap, you would just tell them: Sure, let's upgrate from 2.4 to 2.6 and cross your fingers?

    The fact that they are cautious doesn't mean they distrust SP2. Like any major upgrage to a kernel (to any OS), it is going to break some of your specific devs, would it be only slightly.

    This would be true for any OS. The fact that this one is Microsoft doesn't make it something against MS.

    --
    Write boring code, not shiny code!