Microsoft 'guarantees' SP2 release

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Skeptical, yes; Negative, no.

You wrote:
I'm skeptical. A 20 year history with Microsoft as a user gives me that right.

Fair enough. The third-time's-charm rule of Microsoft releases alone proves that the quality of any given iteration is not assured.


But in some cases you've criticized Microsoft for problems they've already solved and failures that haven't happened.

For example, you write:
Now we get an 80 meg bit of bloat.

Why assume SP2 is only bloat?
Skeptical is not being sure it'll help until you try it. Negative is a premature conclusion.

And again:
And, the question still remains, will this fix anything at all? Angry users will still turn on the messenger, most will ignore or turn off the firewall. Most will get into the game of downloading virus definitions for a while then stop because it's too much to do. And on and on.

Most users didn't know Messenger existed until it started throwing popups at them, and now that it's turned off they don't miss it.
Microsoft knows its clientele. The firewall will be easy to start, easy to ignore. Remember that one reason Microsoft's products are unusually vulnerable is they get the people who don't care about computers.
I like Avast! on home computers. The virus updates are usually less than 10kb and the user finds out about them only after they've happened in the background. That's a model all AV companies seem to be moving toward. No user intervention; they just happen.


And again:
Still, I do look forward to the day when I sit down to do something important on XP only to have Update tell me there's a security package waiting to be downloaded and then get stopped dead in my tracks while it all happens for a couple of hours. Oh, and breaks a few things along the way.

Just turn off all the automatic updates on XP and wait until you have the time for the update site. Some people will have to be notified, nagged, even importuned to get updates, but you're not one of those people.
And remember that the people who evade updates are the ones whose machines become zombies or virus broadcasters. You want those people to be threatened with reprisals if they don't update.

So, many of your criticisms seem to be aggravation with Microsoft looking for an outlet. When SP2 comes out, there will probably be real reasons to criticize, but we don't have 'em yet.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 07/04/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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