Archive for the ‘Service Pack 2’ Category
Neowin reports that the Windows Service Pack Road Map has been quietly updated. Service Pack 3 for Windows XP Home and Professional is now planned for release in the first half of 2008, nearly four years after the Service Pack 2.
Crap. That’s an awful lot of roll-ups and individual patches for Windows XP users to have to deal with.
Mary Jo Foley says out loud what you’re probably thinking:
There’s no doubt that some (many?) Microsoft customers will see the latest slip as a less-than-subtle attempt by Microsoft to force them to upgrade to the latest versions of Windows that are coming down the pike. Why stick with an operating system that hasn’t gotten a full-fledged set of bug fixes and updates for two-plus years? Why not just make the move to Vista and Longhorn Server?
I think this is a sign that Microsoft’s development resources are stretched awfully thin.
Mary Jo Foley points out that support for Windows XP SP1 ends October 10.
SP2 has been out for more than two years. It’s been installed on hundreds of millions of computers. If there’s an issue that’s keeping you from installing it, there’s undoubtedly a solution.
Frankly, I can’t imagine why someone would insist on running an outdated, demonstrably insecure version of Windows. If you’re still resisting SP2, please tell me why. (And “I tried to install it and it crashed my system” isn’t good enough. If that’s true, there’s almost certainly a specific incompatibility that you can troubleshoot and fix.)
CNET News.com says that a spokesman for Microsoft France has confirmed that Service Pack 3 will appear sometime after Windows Vista ships next year:
Windows XP SP3 will be available sometime next year–after the launch of Windows Vista, which “is the priority for the development teams,” according to Microsoft France.
Microsoft has yet to reveal details about the contents of the service pack. Laurent Delaporte of Microsoft France said: “Historically, certain functions of new versions of Windows are integrated in the service packs of previous versions.”
Intriguing. Wonder how many Vista features can be ported backwards?
I originally wrote this post about six months ago and never published it. Given the current discussion about different editions of Windows Vista, and especially the contention from Robert McLaws that Microsoft still hasn’t decided on the product mix for Windows Vista, I thought it made sense to update it.
The Internet has a big problem: People continue to use old, insecure versions of Windows. I can’t find any up-to-date statistics, but my WAG is that between 10 and 20% of people on the Internet today are running operating systems from the Windows 9X family. These old computers are less reliable and far less secure than they would be if they were running Windows XP, and they aren’t able to install many modern programs.
Why don’t these people upgrade? Because upgrading is expensive. The upgrade package is $90-100 if you’re a good shopper. A new PC is going to run between $400 and $500. That’s a lot of money for people who are on a fixed income or who are struggling to make ends meet.
Microsoft already has a solution: Windows XP Starter Edition. It was designed for use in emerging markets where the average annual income can’t justify the cost of a full Windows XP license. First released in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, it soon spread to Russia, India, and Brazil, and it’s now available in 22 countries and in six languages. (There are some interesting details in this article from Microsoft Watch and a very Microsoft-friendly profile, with screen shots, at Paul Thurrott’s site.)
Well, we have plenty of people in this country who can’t afford the cost of a new PC or an expensive upgrade. But they might pay $30, especially if they got some bonuses kicked in with the deal, like a six-month subscription to Microsoft’s OneCare security software, or a limited version of MSN.
Would Starter Edition cannibalize sales of existing Windows versions? I don’t think so. The operating system has some serious limitations that would rule out its use by any computer enthusiast:
- Only three programs run at a time. (Hey… You can’t reliably run more than a handful of programs on Windows 9X anyway.)
- The display runs only at 800 X 600 resolution. Most people who are stuck with old hardware and an old version of Windows are probably running at this resolution anyway.
- No home networking or multiple user accounts.
- Settings are preconfigured for novices.
But think of the serious advantages. Upgraders would have all the security fixes of Service Pack 2. They’d be able to run IE7 when it’s available later this year. They could run Windows AntiSpyware. They’d have an easier time with digital cameras and portable music players.
So why not make Windows XP Starter Edition (and the Windows Vista equivalent, when its time comes) available here? Sell it for $29.99. Make it available only as an upgrade to Windows 98 or Windows Me. Maybe the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation could set up a program with clinics in low-income neighborhoods that could offer upgrade services or low-cost, Starter Edition-powered computers for families with school-age kids and seniors.
I suggested this back in January, but the more I think about the idea, the more I like it. Windows 98 and Windows Me are long overdue for retirement, and a move like this would help make the Internet a better, safer place.
In the comments to an earlier post, someone noted a screen shot of an ActiveX dialog box that included the “Always trust content from this company” option. He asked the obvious question: Why isn’t there a “Never trust content…” option?
Short answer: There is. But only if you’re running the latest Windows version.
If you’ve installed Windows XP Service Pack 2, you’ll find that the wording in this dialog box has been changed to specifically refer to installing software rather than the confusing “trust content” wording. Here’s what the new dialog box looks like; note that you first have to click the Information Bar to display this dialog box and then you have to click a More Options button to see these settings:
We noted this important change in Windows XP Inside Out, Second Edition and the larger Windows XP Inside Out Deluxe, Second Edition), both of which cover SP2 thoroughly:
In earlier versions of Windows XP, the dialog box used with signed downloads included a check box that allowed you to specify that you always trusted the publisher using that certificate. By selecting this check box, you could automatically install future downloads from your favorite publishers without having to see the Security Warning dialog box every time.
Windows XP SP2 adds the counterpart to that feature—a check box that lets you identify a publisher as untrusted. If you determine that a particular company’s widely distributed ActiveX controls and programs don’t belong on your computer, you can designate that publisher as untrusted, and no user of your computer will be able to install software that uses that publisher’s digital certificate.
If you haven’t installed SP2 yet, this is yet another reason to do so. If you’re holding off because you’ve heard bad things about SP2, please do some more reading starting here. SP2 is quite safe and reliable, and the few known issues are relatively easy to deal with.
Internet Explorer supports all sorts of add-ons and extensions. The most popular are Browser Helper Objects (BHOs), browser extensions, and toolbars. If you run Windows XP Service Pack 2, you can view a list of all installed add-ons by choosing Tools, Manage Add-ons. From this dialog box you can enable, disable, or update anything on the list.
So how do you tell which add-ons are good and which ones are evil? Start at the CastleCops Master BHO and Toolbar List. The list is currently at 1609 entries and does an excellent job of sorting the good, the bad, and the ugly.