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IBM Tells Employees To Hold Off WinXP SP2
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."
Our company has issued notices not to install the patch until, well, it can be patched. Also, we will house it locally. Imagine 3000 people all trying to download this 250mb patch (hell, it will proably be around 300mb when it is released) at once... Networking will give a snail a run for it's money.
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
i'm sure the IT crew has more than a few things to do already!
Side note: just went cruising dell's site for any word on putting sp2 on the gf's new Dimension xps and didn't see much mention of it by way of "don't do this yet" or "my god people hurry and install", so i'm going to call tech support (i heard that chuckle) and see what they have to say on the matter. Prolly have it down by rote at this point after getting more than a few calls about it. If it were my pc, i'd do it just to see all the stuff and give it a shot, but the "my stupidass boyfriend fucked up my computer" doghouse is not where i want to be....ever!
Helpful Deployment Tools Here
Would that be SMS?
Why scary? in my company I know it will not be approved for at LEAST another 3 months. They announced 2 days ago in an internal Email that SP2 is not to be applied to any of the XP machines for any reason.
This is typical of every large company, I'm betting over 90$ of large american corperations have a hold off SP2 order in their IT departments right now.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Bah, all apps run on the web? Good grief. I'd hate to run a visual C++ compiler located on a website. We've already had that solution - it was called VAX, but instead of using websites, it used dumb terminals.
Besides, the problems with SP2 involve webbed and internet apps. Anything that opens up a port causes the new SP2 firewall to throw up all sorts of alarms, unless it's local loopback only.
Tepp
I work for a large financial institution and we have taken the same stance. Working closely with IBM, as most large companies do, I have noticed they all use WindowsXP on their notebooks. We however, have not even made the jump to XP; Windows 2000 is still the standard.
There are 10 types of people in the world, those who know binary and those who do not!
Installing SP2 via WindowsUpdate V5, the new WindowsUpdate changes show a heap of geek speak which roughly translates to "all your base are belong to us". Even though there is an expert option to choose which updates to apply, it's options are indeed limited.
I have WinXP Home SP1 with all the latest updates applied. I downloaded the SP2 .EXE file from microsoft.com's download and attempted to install it.
The installation went fine except that somewhere in the middle of the installation I got "Access is denied." error. The installation program then went and de-installed what was partially installed and restored it to SP1 (Thank Goodness!). This was while logged in (as the only user in the system) with administrative privileges. Windows was rebooted and it booted fine in SP1.
I rebooted SP1 in Safe mode and logged in as the Administrator. I repeated the installation process with exact same error "Access is denied.". Again, reverted to SP1 successfully
I am thankful that it was possible to change back to SP1 and WinXP booted. But, I just can't seem to be able to install SP2. Now, I am scared than earlier about trying it for the third time.
Osho
This seems to be a valid theory!
Here @ FedEx we tested some SP2 installs and it broke a bunch of our apps. We are also holding out on deploying this service pack to our machines so we can make a custom SP2. I think alot of companies are doing the same. TE
TerminalEcho
As a long time IBMer, you are probably BOTH right.
I've been with the company long enough to know that there is NO global IT policy whatsoever. Although there have been many MANY attempts to consolidate it over the years, the reality of the situation is that IBM is, in fact, about 500 small companies, each with their own poliicies and procedures -- which vary from country to country, state to state, and office to office.
Its very possible that Grandparent was told to use WindowsUpdate while Parent was told to NEVER do that. Happens all the time.
Welcome to IBM.