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Windows XP Service Pack 3

Discussion in 'Entertainment and Technology' started by Paul_UK, May 19, 2008.

  1. Paul_UK

    Paul_UK Guest

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    Just a note that SP3 for Windows XP was released earlier this month.

    I don't think it's on the Automatic Updates system yet (none of our XP systems have found it), however you can get it through Windows Update or Microsoft Update. On a fully patched system it comes in at about 70MB.

    If you want the full download for installing on systems with a fresh Windows installation or onto several PCs, it's available here and is about 316MB.

    I think it is very unlikely that there will be any further Windows XP service packs.
     
  2. Alex

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    Yep got it a week ago.. improved startup time.. but MSN now starts 15 seconds after windows is logged in and that sucks.. im buying Vista and a Raid 0 array for it anyway soon
     
  3. Paul_UK

    Paul_UK Guest

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    Unless you have at least 2GB of RAM and a fast CPU you'll probably find Vista to be slower than XP. 15 seconds is not a big deal really!
     
  4. Steam Giant

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    I wonder why this SP was necesary then? There was a pretty significant difference between SP1 and SP2, and even programs that refuse to install without SP2. Do you think it'd be worth it to grab this one then? Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt, right?

    Agreed. Microsoft is frustrated enough with their customers preferring XP to Vista, and the more support they give XP users, the less incentive there is to switch to Vista, which is perfectly fine by me! Still, though, I agree that this is probably the last major support effort for this OS.
     
  5. Paul_UK

    Paul_UK Guest

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    It's probably more useful for those of us that set up new PCs and do Windows reinstalls etc, as it means we can get a system up to date (as of now) with a single SP install rather than messing around with Windows Update.

    For existing installations I don't think it offers anything new, but in due course security patches will only be available for SP3 and not older versions. It is really just a big update roundup pack containing everything in the previous service packs and all the updates since SP2 all in one package. At least that means it is unlikely to break working systems though!

    Reading the white paper on the Microsoft website, the "new functionalities" mainly relate to working with Windows Server 2008 on a network (with Active Directory etc) and are not of relevance to home users.

    They also mentioned that it is a way for users to "catch up" with patches they may have missed previously by declining the automatic updates, so they must be aware of a lot of poorly patched systems out there.

    Yep, they must realise they have screwed up with both Windows Vista and Office 2007 as many users hate them! Office 2003 is already discontinued, and Windows XP is being dropped at the end of June I think. All to force the take-up of Vista and 2007 probably.

    The developers of Linux distros and OpenOffice must be pleased! I have Microsoft Office 2007 and OpenOffice 2.4 installed, and use normally OpenOffice because I hate the user interface in Office 2007.
     
  6. joeyconnick

    joeyconnick Guest

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    It definitely is on auto update, at least here in Canada.

    Windows XP has been extended until 2010 or later, last I heard.
     
  7. Kenko

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    I haven't seen SP3 appear on autoupdates on any of my machines at home, or my one at work (which doesn't have updates centrally managed by IT). Personally I'm going to wait a couple weeks before installing SP3, since it's best to know it won't break things before hand. I did try installing SP3 on a clean virtual machine and it was amazing to only see 3 things appear in windows update after a fresh install, and not the over 100 that's the case with a fresh SP2 install. Though something that did annoy me was I still had to do the "you have to upgrade windows update. Now you have to update windows update" before I could even see the list. Grrr!!!

    RAID 0 helps performance but it's terrible for data integrity. If one disk fails you effective lose all data spanned over both disks. RAID 1 gives you redundancy and improved read performance.

    I didn't see it on auto update for any of my home or work PC's.

    General retail and OEM sales will stop June 30, 2008. Sales of XP for "Ultra mobile PC's" will end June 30, 2010.

    Support for SP2 will end July 13, 2010

    XP will transition from "mainstream support" to "Extended support" , April 14, 2009. Extended support will end April 8, 2014, almost 13 years after initially being released.

    Given how long it takes them to get a service pack through, main stream support would expire before SP4 ever came along. All the major functionality bugs in XP have been ironed out(more or less :wink: so really there isn't much left except security fixes. XP will probably be supported for the next version of media player, and maybe IE 8.

    SP2 was released 2004, so that's 4 years of updates to catch up on, and unlike Windows 2000 where "update rollups" were created, they didn't do that for XP. As Paul mentions the actual new functionality other than updates are minor. Aside from networking stuff that would interest IT folks, it includes:
    -WPA2 support
    -Installing without requiring a product key during setup for retail and OEM versions
    -Black hole router detection.

    Paul: rather than installing SP3 after installing a new system, slipstream it into your install disc with nlite:

    http://www.nliteos.com/

    nlite is also handy if you need to slipstream SATA drivers to install on a new system (And SP1+ is needed for >137GB disk capability), and nLite will also configure unattended installations.

    I listed the support schedule above. This hasn't been a secret. MS has been telling people what the support schedule would be for years. This is something that came out of the anti-trust lawsuits. MS want people to move to Vista but they will continue to support XP as they are required. And I suspect that the support time frame for XP will probably be extended in the way Win98's support was extended, due to the sheer popularity.

    I'll also point out the following products from Apple, although sold in the same timeframe as XP are basically unsupported: 10.1 Puma, 10.2 Jaguar, 10.3 Panther (maybe as well supported as Windows 2000). Who's forcing upgrades now? 1 OS upgrade in seven years for $99 in windows verses 3 or 4 at $139 for Mac OS?

    I find the interface in Office 2007 takes adjusting to, but I think it is a better layout, the problem is we're all used to the old interface, and people are resistant to change. As far as dropping support for Office 2003, mainstream support ends April 14, 2009, extended support April 8, 2014. Mainstream support for Office 2000 already ended but extended support goes into 2009. And the "2007 compatibility pack" Microsoft released is compatible with Office 2000, XP, and 2003. Microsoft doesn't drop support as quick as some will lead you to believe.

    I find Open Office buggy, poor performing, and not as compatible with Office as I'd need. That said with the displeasure of Vista (deserved or otherwise), there is a HUGE potential for another OS maker to take over. As nice as MacOS is, it probably won't be them due to hardware lock-in. The problem with Linux IMHO is there's too many different distros. If all the people working on all the distros, only focused on one distro, it would be AMAZING. Though there may start to be some solidification around a popular distro like Ubuntu for desktop users. That said Linux is much better than it used to be, and I've been giving it a go on a secondary machine, and will probably tend towards Linux if I have to give up XP. It can easily do 90% of what a person needs. It's that remaining 10% that's a problem
     
  8. joshhunt

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    GASP!!!

    Office 07 is like the best. I do agree with them stuffing up on vista (i refuse to install it on my machine. I just dont see why i should...), but i honestly love the new ribbon interface on 07. I cant stand it when i go to school and I have to use 2003

    But yeah. Im just pretty sure that all SP3 contains is just more bug fixes and optimisations etc, as well as all the previous updates rolled into one big update. I might download it at the end of the month...
     
  9. Micah

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    The interface is Office 2007 is sooo much better for tasks such as essay writing or large scale document editing (both of which I do for Uni).

    Just takes a little while to get into it :slight_smile: