XP Service Packs

August 9, 2004 6:36 AM

So is there anywhere I can get my hands on the XP service pack release today? Without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to join the Microsoft club? I have a feeling it will be a mess, and I want to know what my friends and co-workers will be getting themselves into. Thanks for the help!
posted by loquax to Computers & Internet (15 answers total)

"I want to know what my friends and co-workers will be getting themselves into." Sure.

This reminds me of the license agreement purported to have been packaged with a program called EasyFlow:

Bloodthirsty License Agreement
>
>This is where the bloodthirsty license agreement is supposed to go,
>explaining that EasyFlow is a copyrighted package, sternly warning you
>not to pirate copies of it and explaining, in detail, the gory
>consequences if you do.
>
>We know that you are an honest person, and are not going to go around
>pirating copies of EasyFlow; this is just as well with us since we
>worked hard to perfect it and selling copies of it is our only method
>of making anything out of all the hard work. For your convenience
>EasyFlow Is distributed on a non copy-protected diskette and you are
>free to do what you want with it (make backups, move from machine to
>machine, etc.) provided that it is never in use by more than one
>person at a time.
>
>If, on the other hand, you are one of those few people who do go
>around pirating copies of software, you probably aren't going to pay
>much attention to a license agreement, bloodthirsty or not. Just keep
>your doors locked and look out for the HavenTree attack shark.
>
> Honest Disclaimer
>
>We don't claim EasyFlow is good for anything - if you think it is,
>great, but it's up to you to decide. If EasyFlow doesn't work: tough.
>if you lose a million because EasyFlow messes up, It's you that's out
>the million, not us. If you don't like this disclaimer, tough. We
>reserve the right to do the absolute minimum provided by law, up to
>and including nothing.
>
>This is basically the same disclaimer that comes with all software
>package but ours is in plain English and theirs is in legalese.
>
>We didn't really want to include any disclaimer at all, but our
>lawyers insisted. We tried to ignore them but they threatened us with
>the attack shark (see license agreement above) at which point we
>relented.
>
> DON'T LOSE THE MANUAL
>
>That's right; don't lose this manual. Especially don't lose it before
>you have read this page. Why are we telling you this? Isn't it obvious
>that you shouldn't lose the manual?
>
>That's what we thought. Then we started getting all these calls from
>people saying "Hi! I'm Joe Blow and you've never heard of me, but I
>bought a copy of EasyFlow from FlyByNite Software and now I can't find
>the manual... will you send me a new one free?".
>
>At first we were nice guys and went along with this. Then we started
>getting a bit more hard nosed about it; after all it is trivial to
>copy the disk but the manual involves somewhat more work. Now we had
>to agonize over each request and try to distinguish between the
>genuine unfortunate ("the dog chewed it up") and the merely
>unscrupulous looking for free software.
>
>So what does everybody else do? We phoned the local Chevy dealer and
>told them we had misplaced the engine out of our new Camaro; that call
>didn't get us much useful information. Well ... cars aren't software.
>We called Borland and gave them a song and dance about losing our
>Turbo Pascal manual; they said to mail a letter to their "Lost Manual
>Review Committee". Wow! What a good idea. So we immediately rushed
>out and set up our Lost Manual Review Committee. The Committee meets
>once a month. They don't send out many replacement manuals, but they
>seem to do a lot of howling, rolling around on the floor and saying
>things like, "Oh wow - listen to this one".
>
> Don't lose the manual.
>
>Replacement manuals are available without going through the Committee
>for US$147.95 each.
posted by caddis at 7:02 AM on August 9, 2004

Bittorrent.
posted by adampsyche at 7:23 AM on August 9, 2004

A few mirrors listed here .
Please post some feedback if you a) get the update, and b) ever manage to get your computer going again. Related horror story here, which may be helpful.
posted by punilux at 8:40 AM on August 9, 2004

I'm running SP2 RC2, and all's well here. I installed it to get the updated Bluetooth stack, and I'm incredibly glad Microsoft fixed their Bluetooth stack, it's not perfect but it's far better than what it used to be.

I'll upgraded to the final version when it hits Windows Update.
posted by riffola at 8:51 AM on August 9, 2004

Thanks a lot punilux, that's just what I was looking for. I had previously installed RC2, but can't understand why they'd release the final version to MSDN subscribers but make everyone else wait a few days.

Thanks again, I'll let you know how it went shortly...
posted by loquax at 10:29 AM on August 9, 2004

can't understand why they'd release the final version to MSDN subscribers but make everyone else wait a few days.

To make the value of the MSDN subscription more obvious, most likely.
posted by billsaysthis at 12:03 PM on August 9, 2004

Torrent here.
posted by mr.marx at 12:03 PM on August 9, 2004

Well, that was anti-climatic. Just seemed to add a little window dressing around what was already there (which, granted, may have been necessary). The firewall can be turned off quite easily and is not very different from what existed previously. That security centre is just annoying and doesn't add much if you already knew what you were doing. Oh well. Maybe this is premature but it looks like no big deal to me.

Thanks for the link though!
posted by loquax at 1:17 PM on August 9, 2004

loquax, I seem to have misread your intentions and I owe you an apology. Sorry.
posted by caddis at 1:19 PM on August 9, 2004

Thanks loquax, I'm glad there was nothing 'interesting' to report, but I still think I'll wait a while. To adampsyche & mr. marx; do you really trust torrents for an OS upgrade?
posted by punilux at 1:30 PM on August 9, 2004

No problem caddis - I thought you might have, but I didn't really get what you were saying so I kept quiet!
posted by loquax at 1:50 PM on August 9, 2004

Among the things it adds, better wireless networking integration, better Bluetooth stack, AMD 64 CPU based data overflow protection to prevent virus and malware from well being bad, new security center which brings security to a non-techy's level of understanding, IE's got a pop up blocker, etc. What more do you need in a Service Pack?
posted by riffola at 1:52 PM on August 9, 2004

Ah yes, riffola, you're right. Personally, I was more concerned with the new firewall application and the possibility that old applications (or indeed windows) wouldn't work. My disappointment is probably positive in that there were no problems that I saw right away.
posted by loquax at 2:08 PM on August 9, 2004

XP SP2 network install download.
It says: DO NOT CLICK DOWNLOAD IF YOU ARE UPDATING JUST ONE COMPUTER: A smaller, more appropriate download will be available soon on Windows Update. To receive this download, turn on the Automatic Updates feature in Windows XP to receive an optimized download of SP2. Please visit Protect Your PC for more information on receiving Windows XP SP2.
posted by riffola at 2:59 PM on August 9, 2004

One other sorely needed feature included as part of SP2 is the Never trust content from this provider option for software that tries to install itself through Internet Explorer. Also, The firewall in SP2 is far more configurable than the previous incarnation. Access to specific ports and applications, including Windows file sharing, can now be restricted to specific IP addresses/ranges.

I installed the final version of SP2 on two computers over the weekend, and haven't had any problems with them so far.
posted by yarmond at 3:28 PM on August 9, 2004