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Windows update will be late, Microsoft says

WishX   on 12 July 2004 - 14:03 · 37 comments & 2557 views

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Microsoft said Monday that the long-awaited update of Windows XP will be sent to manufacturing in August, a month later than expected. Windows XP Service Pack 2, or SP2, will contain a number of new features. Most of the improvements deal with security. One new feature, for example, is a Security Center that provides a view of a PC's key protection settings. An improved firewall and other tweaks are also planned.

This is the second time that Microsoft has delayed SP2, which was originally expected in June. Earlier this year, Microsoft said that the update would be delayed until July. The company gave no reasons for new delay. Last month, a number of Windows enthusiast Web sites reported that Microsoft had run into compatibility problems between SP2 and other software. Microsoft representatives were unavailable for comment.

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News source: C|Net News.com



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(4 replies) #1 configure on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:04
xStainDx also contributed to this story by the way
#1.1 xStainDx on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:08
woohoo... twists my uber flag.....

Good Morning Pimp
#1.2 configure on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:17
It's 21:16 genius
#1.3 roadwarrior on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:26
That would depend on what side of the world you were on. LOL
#1.4 bozthepcnerd on 12 Jul 2004 - 15:02

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QUOTE
That would depend on what side of the world you were on. LOL


Haha Australia here!!

I think it's good that they worked on it for a little longer... might actually work and better??? Security, we'll see how it fares.
#2 donachello on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:07
Typical...
(1 reply) #3 RangerLG on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:10
As long as its right, I'm ok with it.
#3.1 chacho on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:34
agreed.
(1 reply) #4 Robinski on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:12
I hope they will release SP2 Final onto the web sooner
and hopefully they have the translated versions ready to
#4.1 kiddingguy on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:47
I also do hope that all other languages besides English (German & Japanese) of SP2 will be released on the same date. But I guess that'll not be the case
(1 reply) #5 kainashi on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:13
why does this not surprise me?
#5.1 cork1958 on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:17
I hear ya!!
#6 Philip Hristov on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:17
bahaha
(1 reply) #7 NinjaOfLove on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:17
Will there be a Windows 2000 SP5 as well?
#7.1 chacho on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:35
that has absolutely nothing to do with this...

and the answer would be: probably
(2 replies) #8 dL on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:31
I knew it. They're always late, never early, and NEVER on time.
#8.1 shao on 12 Jul 2004 - 15:36
so, when microsoft said "hey kids, security updates - once a month, second tuesday. be there or be square" that's not them being on time?
tbh, i think everyone agrees that sp2 is a good thing; people would rather wait and make sure it's spot on perfection rather than rush it out the door, plus the fact the scope of what would be included in sp2, at the very least in terms of the firewall and IE, has increased. it's all good. It's ALL good.
#8.2 Octol on 13 Jul 2004 - 00:25
QUOTE
people would rather wait and make sure it's spot on perfection rather than rush it out the door...


Not only that, but I have 2149 on six different computers and it's stable as a rock. I think it's safe to assume that it's OK for most everyone else as well. While Joe Public may be getting impatient with the delays, people around here shouldn't be in any big hurry with a usable build already available. No reason to get a tit in the wringer over this.
#9 Justin03248 on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:35
It's strange, cause RC2 is so good.
#10 jnr_subz33i on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:41
Dates don't mean anything to me anymore when it comes to Microsoft..
As if they have ever followed by them anyway...Why don't they just drop it and say. "It'l be out when its done", instead of pushing the date back 50 billions times...<large exageration..yes i know...
(1 reply) #11 hifigecko on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:45
maybe they will add some new features to IE . i.e tabbed browsing and more,lol

Don't fire me!

Last edited by 50685 on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:55
#11.1 kiddingguy on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:48
Yeah right! Maybe in a future update or IE7 there will be tabbed browsing. It is quite handy though! However, I don't use FF anymore....
(1 reply) #12 moRU on 12 Jul 2004 - 14:53
So does that mean we have to wait longer for VPC 7?
#12.1 Octol on 13 Jul 2004 - 00:28
Getting a little ahead of yourself ain't ya?
#13 threedaysdwn on 12 Jul 2004 - 15:13
Who *hasn't* learned that projected release dates are never set in stone, for ANY software development.

If you don't set a planned RTM... you won't even come close to getting it done.

But if you have to delay that RTM to make the product better, so be it. I think it's very clear that Microsoft is not the only company to do this...
People just seem to like picking on them more and more.

I think it'd be kind of funny if Ballmer came out and said "XP SP2 will be released WHEN IT'S DONE," a la John Carmack's famous line.
(2 replies) #14 Electronic Punk on 12 Jul 2004 - 15:57
So what happened to definatly within 2 weeks Neowin ? :o
Ah well, its all good and it means us real testers might get another interim build.
#14.1 McGazza on 12 Jul 2004 - 20:15
Yeh but this is refering to the final not RTM. Maybe that would come out as planned as they wud have to spend a lot of time with the RTM. Yeh if not looks like its another build for us testers! whoo.
#14.2 Octol on 13 Jul 2004 - 00:29
I hear 2161 is floating around. Wouldn't mind getting my hands on that.
#15 imtoomuch on 12 Jul 2004 - 16:20
Maybe Microsoft is "never" on time with their release dates, but the same could be said a lot of other companies.
#16 Hills420 on 12 Jul 2004 - 16:46
jesus, this date slips every day
(1 reply) #17 xpablo on 12 Jul 2004 - 17:11
Then in August MS will anounce that SP2 release will be delayed once again.

#17.1 todd` on 12 Jul 2004 - 21:05
sigh
#18 paulhaskew on 12 Jul 2004 - 20:27
(1 reply) #19 Tech001101 on 12 Jul 2004 - 23:32
For a company that has an enormous $56 Billion Cash surplus, who employs well over 50,000 staff with nice salary's I'm sure, they really do move slowly.

They certainly take a long time to do anything. In the mean time and in between time (2 years) there's unlucky folks who don't stay up to date with all the hot fixes and patches whenever an exploit is found have probably gotten riddled and spyware infected. That would be the ordinary internet user who does not fall into our category of the "tech savvy" like us here. Microsoft worked on SP2 for almost 2 years now. It's lousy customer service IMO. And not to knock them cause I like Microsoft products but some open-souce software have updates faster than they do and they operate as a non-profit .orgs

No wonder they had to step up customer service as was reported last week...

But anyway better late than never....



#19.1 Octol on 13 Jul 2004 - 01:23
QUOTE
They certainly take a long time to do anything.


Hey, you can't have it both ways.

For years people have been screaming about Microsoft prematurely releasing incomplete and insecure software; of using its paying customers as beta testers. And frankly there's been much truth to the accusations. Indeed, I've always been of two minds about that policy: on the one hand, the advancements in Microsoft's software have been greatly accelerated because of it—which is good; but on the other hand it's not exactly ethical to charge one's customers for testing incomplete products.

No matter. Microsoft now seems to have learned its lesson and appears to be making a good-faith effort at getting SP2 right before getting it out—even though they're not even directly profiting from the product. And considering the intense pressure that they're under to keep moving on this, I think it's safe to assume that they're peddaling as fast as they can.

Well, if they're going as fast as they can, then however long it takes has to be fast enough. Sending it out before it's finished would be counterproductive and would only get them screamed at some more. It will be out when it's done.
#20 mikeyj on 13 Jul 2004 - 04:23
Microsoft pulled a quick one on me a few weeks ago when I loaded up the beta version 2 of sp2 after I installed the update. i went back to windows update only to find out that the product key was no longer valid...especially since it's a legal copy...
#21 Cy Bones on 13 Jul 2004 - 08:50
Is it true that you get a free copy of Half Life 2 when you download SP2?

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