By Munir Kotadia, 12 July 2004 09:55
NEWS Microsoft will encourage dial-up users to update their Windows XP systems with Service Pack 2 by distributing the update on one million CDs in the UK.
SP2 for Windows XP is a major upgrade for Microsoft's desktop operating system. It has been designed to vastly improve the overall security of XP and make it easier for users to control their security settings.
However, SP2 is expected to be at least 80MB in size and could be as large as 120MB, said Paul Randle, Windows client product manager at Microsoft UK.
According to Randle, Microsoft's primary distribution channel will be over the internet but the company will be targeting dial-up users by offering to send a copy of SP2 in the post on a CD, free of charge. Additionally, the company has cut deals with numerous computer magazines to distribute the update on their cover CDs.
"If you don't want to download the CD, there will be an order button on the Microsoft website where you can get a copy of the CD completely free - including postage and packing," Randle said.
Additionally, Randle confirmed that SP2 will only become available once Microsoft has finished work on a new version of its Windows Update tool. Windows Update 5.0 will include a "Checkpoint Restart" feature, which allows users to resume a download if their internet connection is interrupted mid-download.
"You will be able to download SP2 in the background. It will take 40 per cent of your bandwidth, so you will still have a web browsing experience but it will be slowed down. If you have been downloading and you break your connection, it remembers where you got in the download process and pick up where it left off," Randle said.
Richard Starnes, president of security industry group ISSA UK, welcomed the security update, but is concerned that SP2 will become the target of phishers who will spam unsuspecting users with links to doctored versions of the update.
"This opens up numerous possibilities for ID theft and phishing attacks. How is Microsoft going to ensure that Trojanised copies of SP2 are not going to be put out?" asked Starnes.
Additionally, Starnes points out that users that have followed Microsoft's advice and turned on the auto-update feature on Windows will at some point find their computers have started downloading SP2 without their knowledge.
"A great deal of consumers have followed Microsoft's advice and set the auto-update feature. I'm not going to give any dire predictions, but I will be very interested to see what happens," Starnes said.
Munir Kotadia writes for ZDNet UK
Comments
There are 14 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
1m? XP was 1 cd!
Is this the amount of fixes and patches discovered since service pack 1 that we are likely to expect? ;)
2. Tony Quinsee-Jover
If what I've heard about SP2 switching on ICF automatically is true then I am sure that help lines the length and breadth of the country will be flooded with calls as unsuspecting users upgrade their OS only to find they can't access half the stuff they used to. As for the CD distribution - great idea.
3. anonymous
Keep listening for that giant sucking sound as "auto-update" causes all the web's bandwidth to disappear for a few weeks thanks to M$.
4. anonymous
Keep listening for that giant sucking sound as "auto-update" causes all the web's bandwidth to disappear for a few weeks thanks to M$.
5. royston
to anonymous above tony. are you thick? if you read enough about xpsp2 you will notice that xp has been added to in order to improve it.i welcome the new security measures so if you want to use xp then you must except the updates provided its as simple as that.if you want to complain then dont use the os at all.go find another one that suites your purpose. it is like tv if you dont like the ascociated problems then you have a choice, turn it off. i,m sick of hearing about people complaining about microsofts os systems.blame the idiots that do the hacking and cracking they are the ones that have disrupted everybodys enjoyement of the internet not the hard working people that designed the os your useing.THE CRIMINALS ARE THE ONES THAT ARE MOSTLY TO BLAME. you buy a pc with or without an os its your choice or build it yourself. so stop cryeing and get on with it! give people freedom of choice and they cry all the time about the choices they make.TOUGH!!!
6. ms ex-user
to above comment
There IS no choice. If computer stores started putting linux on their computers instead of m$, m$ would do everything in its power to stop it, keeping innovation and competition to a minimum. This is the way m$ likes it
7. Deanna
To Royston, Wales. Did you ever go to school, or is that how they teach people to spell in Wales? As for your grammer...
(Ed note. Does anybody want to point out to Deanna how to spell 'grammer'? Ouch - the irony!)
8. Big Brother
Open up the source code M$ for proper public scrutiny. If you did we wouldn't find ourselves having to continuously download patch after patch, year after year!
9. anonymous
1mb is size of the front. SP2 is 264Mb in beta stage. 500mb operating system needs an update half its size. Now you happy?
10. Cliff
wow the way you guys are hating on microsoft, it sounds like you have a vested interest in linux or apple.
unless you own stock in any of the companies...what is the big deal? you have a choice of which OS you use
Deal with it, if you can't... get help, there are professionals to help you with your issues
11. Allan
Grammar is spelt 'grammer' in Paradise. Footnote to the gatekeeper in Paradise: Please let me in asap!
12. Allan
Full marks to HP for shipping Linux pre-installed on laptops! Good for them. I just hope that the application files (Word etc) created on them using the OpenOffice productivity suite are interoperable (i.e. openable, editable) by users with M$Office apps, and vice versa.
13. LoboMax
hum.. now we know its size: 475.35MB
http://itvibe.com/default.aspx?NewsID=2794
14. nick
but most of us don't want linux despite it being as good as it is......the vast majority will use XP & any future os's ms release......sounds like a sony betamax user to me :-)