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XP SP2 Adoption Lagging Overseas

Posted by Zonk on from the large-patches-frustrate dept.

Vizquel wrote to mention an eWeek article reporting that Microsoft is frustrated with the lack of Service Pack 2 usage overseas. From the article: "During a keynote at the Security Summit East here, McKee said Microsoft has so far distributed more than 250 million copies of XP SP2 to provide a hardened shell around the operating system but the low upgrade levels remains a disappointment."

6 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Possible reason by GeekyMike · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I am wondering if he is referring to the upgrades of licensed copies. If not countries such as China and others with almost institutionalized software piracy might cause this lack of upgrades. If it is for licensed versions, I could assume a lack of bandwidth being somewhat limiting. I personally have had no issues with XP SP2 either time I installed it, but the second time was much more pleasant because I had my cable internet connection.

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    Beware the fury of a patient man
    - John Dryden
    1. Re:Possible reason by Stan+Vassilev · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There are two reasons for the low adoption overseas:

      A. Ignorance, as in:

      "I don't need it, I'm safe"
      "I don't know where to get it"
      "ess pee.. what?"
      "oh no I can't do it, it's too complex"

      B. Piracy concerns, as in:

      "oh no, they blacklisted my serial key and will b0rk my PC"
      "OMG, it calls MS and reports my pirated copy"

      Thing is MS did black list the keys but wants SP2 everywhere, even pirated copies, since it's bad PR to have tons of vulnerable Windows copies around. I know people still on 98 btw.

  2. In related news... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Overseas are frustrated with SP2 obsession with registering.

  3. Because Piracy Abound by robbyjo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, SP2 adoption is slow because piracy abounds in foreign land, especially in Asia. Windows updater checks the authenticity of the installed windows and refused to install SP2 (and other updates) if the check fails. For some reasons, critical updates can be downloaded from time to time, but not always. Coupled with lack of broadband internet and clueless users, I'm not surprised at all to hear this news.

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  4. Upgrading SP2 by chroma · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's a lot of trouble to upgrade to SP2?

    I recently had to re-install XP on a laptop that came with SP1. It took about 4 cycles of going to the Windows Update site, getting it to install the patches, and rebooting. It was over an hour before I was done. I have a hard time imagining regular users wanting to do this. MS needs to change their update process so that it can be done all at once.

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    Your design to a real part online: Big Blue Saw
  5. Re:WHO CARES? by Anne+Honime · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Honestly, this is by far the most uninteresting and useless slashdot headline I've ever seen. I'll take troll hits if necessary. For the love of god, why would I care if someone updates to service pack 2 or not? Christ!

    I do ; while I personnaly use Linux on an exclusive basis, I really care about SP2 spreading because my mail boxes are constantly hammered by botnets of un-patched windows computers. The more SP2 there are out there, the less spam will hit me. So please, upgrade before I kill an innocent bunny to make my point.