Windows XP SP3
Well, in the article the other day about the Windows wireless problem/(feature that could be exploitable?) there was a mention that the default behaviour for Windows would be changed with the next service pack, for XP users that’s SP3. So, when can we expec this? It seems that service pack three for Windows XP probably won’t be publicly available until the second half of 2007.
Vista is probably getting more attention than some service pack for the OS it’s destined to replace….
This really says to me their priority is getting people to upgrade, not helping users make sure they have a solid/secure system.
The Security Fix has more on this. Among other things, they point the following: There have been 54 pages released since SP2. IF SP3 were to come out and include those it would include 3 more patches than SP2 bundled, or 21 more than SP1. If they continue at their rate of ~3 patches per month then we might expect it to roll up AT LEAST 108 patches.
In his experience on a broadband connection, installing clean from Windows SP2 and visiting Windows update to get current took “more than 78 minutes”, so a year and a half down the road you might expect well over 2 hours to download all updates ON A BROADBAND CONNECTION. Dial up users are out of luck I suppose.
Previously Microsoft had pledged to get the next service pack out the door before Vista shipped, now that’s moved to late 2007. (In fact, the quote is “tentatively targeting the second half of 2007”). (Note the word tentatively….) So, in reality, we might not see SP3 until 2008. All in all, this is frustrating news. Here’s a parting shot from what Brian Krebs at the Security Fix has to say about it which pretty much sums up the disappointment of this delay….
I think that’s unfortunate. If the idea is to roll some of the protections being developed for Vista into the service pack, then say so. Otherwise, delaying the service pack only increases the likelihood that more users will not fully patch their PCs.
Of course, like I said, I think the real motivation is probably to boost sales of Vista. *(Figuring in the cost of reinstalling and “getting current” on updates (1-2 hours worth) would probably soon start looking more “expensive” in terms of time than an upgrade to Vista + 5 minutes of updates…)