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Ready or Not, Here comes Windows XP SP2
TheViffer writes "Beginning April 12, 2005 Microsoft will remove all temporary blocking of Windows XP SP2 by automatic update and Windows update which it has granted to those organizations that requested it. So unless you run Software Update Service (SUS), chances are you will get a mix of SP1 and SP2 running at the same time. Let's just hope you have these programs that are known to experience a loss of functionality when they run on a Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer and these programs that seem to stop working after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2 patched, upgraded, or removed. Might be a good time for help desk personal to pencil in a week (or two) of vacation."
That nearly all the programs on that list are very old, or already have updates for SP2. Hey what the hell, it's Microsof so lets bash them anyways. Sp2 does a LOT of good things for the average Joe in protecting him from his own stupidity.
They've had plenty of time to complete any migration. The application issues have been known for enough time, that if this is still an issue, they've been slacking off for too long.
How many of those programs in the list are either old versions, have been updated for awhile now, or can be fixed by just disabling windows firewall?
I bet the majority of them.
I'm still waiting for a slashdot post to strike fear into the hearts of everyone about the end of the world being near.
Might be a good time for help desk personal to pencil in a week (or two) of vacation.
Give it up people. I run at least a half dozen of the applications on those lists on a few XP machines with SP2, and have had exactly 0 problems.
When will the "bashing Microsoft makes me feel good" trend end?
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
Scenario: Manager takes his laptop home on the weekend, or (even better), takes it on a business trip, and plugs into the wireless lan at the airport.
He picks up a copy of MyDoom version super alpha turbo+.
2 days later, he gets back and plugs it into the corporate network in your office.
How many of you can say that *every* windows machine you have on the corporate network is up to date? Thats assuming there's already a patch for Mydoom version supera alpha turbo+ at that point?
The days of the perimeter firewall being all you need are well and truly over (and some would say they were never apparent anyway).
smash.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
You are comparing "bleeding edge Linux distros" to a service pack to fix bugs in existing software.
Now, either the apps that broke were depending upon bugs in the OS (in which case, it is the ISV's fault)
-or-
Microsoft's approach to "patching" is wrong.
And please learn the difference between a bug fix and "bleeding edge".
"Better than nothing" isn't much of a selling point, except for very small values of nothing.
That's bull. "Better than nothing" is the only selling point, for any application. A Cisco PIX firewall isn't perfect, either, but it's better than nothing. The entire issue at hand is the fact that most Windows users are clueless enough to be connected to the internet without any sort of firewall protection. SP2 will install a firewall that by default blocks all incoming new connections, which is what you want a firewall to do in almost all general cases. "Better than nothing," particularly in this instance, is a huge leap from "nothing." Compatibility be damned, I say it's nice to see Microsoft making a decision to break compatibility for the sake of security, for once.