[Freethinker]

A couple days ago my son and I were discussing upcoming business. Naturally that led to a discussion about Microsoft. Which naturally led to a discussion about the soon to hit Service Pak 2. The one that would solve all of the massive problem and security issues of XP, the operating system from hell!

Trials were already coming back about what it was doing. Systems not able to access the internet any more, programs that are "broken". And the new holes!

SP2 is more of a new version of XP than just a gathering of patches. New firewall that is an absolute nightmare in itself. Like the boy that called wolf, it is going to ask for permission from the user so many ttimes, the user will soon just click YES without looking. And the hackers will find ways of clicking the yes button soon enough. Oh and so much more! The level of DRM built in is mind boggling. You will be the last one in line allowed to decide what you can watch or listen to on your PC!

And the great thing about it is........

It will install itself and destroy your system without giving you a chance to say NO!

Got autoupdater on?

Of course you do!

You didn't even know it was a question!

It will download this massive upgrade without asking you and while you are not watching. Then it will automatically install itself and tell you to reboot!

GOOD BYE!

Well, we wondered when we wpould start getting calls from our clients because suddenly they can't run a program or access the net!

Oh those that we are directly responsible for network admin and PC builds won;t have the problem. We almost outrifght refuse to install XP. 2000 is what our customers use. Far more stable very secure. At least once we're done. And those that buy other stuff like Dells or Gateways or... and we just do some install and config stuff? We try to explain turning off autoupdater. Not every one listens.

So when the phone rang from a larger company that we do higher level only stuff for, asking if we can help because some programs won't run on some machines after they were rebooted the way the PC said. I bit my tongue hard. It would not be good to laugh at the stupidity of the customer nor would an "I told you so" work!.

But the calls are starting. And next week we will be swamped!

Thanks Microsoft for making such shitty products. It keeps our billable hours right up there!

[Tormod]

Not to pour salt in the wounds, but my PC runs fine with SP2. But then again it's a standalone computer and I have disabled the firewall since I use Norton Internet Security on XP Home edition.

I heard lots of both good and bad stuff...but there really isn't room for the bad stuff with such a massive upgrade. Wonder what they're thinking.

[Freethinker]

Exactly. You have pulled oout one of the big offenders. Remember most people won't even know it is being downloaded and installed. And definately what M'soft did was to bundle in inferior versions of much better available products, such as Norton. Predatory practices. Don't give the customer a choice, install it behind their back and auto-enable it. Why should anyone spend more on Norton now? IE, Media Player.... Sounds familiar?

Look at how Outlook killed so many GOOD PIMS.

There is no doubt that an experienced computer tech like yourself could make SP2 function. But most of the patches and changed default settings, you've probably already done as you went along. The problem program like their firewall you won't install.

It'd didn't download in the background and autoinstall with defaults on your PC.

[Tormod]

Agreed. I'm happy I don't have to fix problems on a bunch of client's machines. I've heard the first people using the same music software as me having issues with SP2. So I'm crossing my fingers...