- microsoft service pack 3 question
- Posted by Christie on May 6th, 2008
Is it wise to do this update?
I've had bad experiences with MS updates in the past, especially with the
last service pack update.
Opinions?
- Posted by flaming-o on May 7th, 2008
SP3 for long term XP users is mostly a consolidation of prior fixes.
It has some additional IT type network install features you will not notice
and also allows longer use of the product without having to activate it.
I have used the betas on several recent fresh XP installs because I did not
want to bother with all the updates. Even the SP3 betas worked flawlessly.
Currently Vista has about 10% American market penetration, most foisted on
computers in retail boxes. That is larger than the Mac base, which should be
a reality check for Mac fanboys out there, but a fraction of the global XP
base.
Since most corporate customers have been firm about not "updating" to Vista,
and the current economic climate does not encourage the Vista
hardware/software update for most businesses, Microsoft will have to
continue to support XP to keep its corporate customers happy. Microsoft
could care less about individual users, however, because it has most of us
by the short and curlies.
The other reason Microsoft is forced to continue to work on security
upgrades for XP is that the installed user base of XP is likely to remain at
high percentages globally for the foreseeable future. If someone comes out
with a new attack on XP that is widely distributed global internet use and
global commerce could crawl to a halt if Microsoft does not continue to
update XP. XP is the dominant OS worldwide and Microsoft cannot escape its
responsibility for XP without incurring major governmental intervention.
- Posted by flaming-o on May 7th, 2008
SP3 for long term XP users is mostly a consolidation of prior fixes.
It has some additional IT type network install features you will not notice
and also allows longer use of the product without having to activate it.
I have used the betas on several recent fresh XP installs because I did not
want to bother with all the updates. Even the SP3 betas worked flawlessly.
Currently Vista has about 10% American market penetration, most foisted on
computers in retail boxes. That is larger than the Mac base, which should be
a reality check for Mac fanboys out there, but a fraction of the global XP
base.
Since most corporate customers have been firm about not "updating" to Vista,
and the current economic climate does not encourage the Vista
hardware/software update for most businesses, Microsoft will have to
continue to support XP to keep its corporate customers happy. Microsoft
could care less about individual users, however, because it has most of us
by the short and curlies.
The other reason Microsoft is forced to continue to work on security
upgrades for XP is that the installed user base of XP is likely to remain at
high percentages globally for the foreseeable future. If someone comes out
with a new attack on XP that is widely distributed global internet use and
global commerce could crawl to a halt if Microsoft does not continue to
update XP. XP is the dominant OS worldwide and Microsoft cannot escape its
responsibility for XP without incurring major governmental intervention.
