Re: University blocking XPSP2. (XPSP2 = FIASCO)

Q. "The tech folks do not want the nightmare of exploded servers and
thousands of students' computers no longer working....."

A. I haven't come across any documentation to support your theory.

Q. "Between not effectively communicating the update process to consumers
and now wreaking havoc on university campuses, you could not have made this
whole thing any more ineffective and troublesome...."

A. Microsoft has had several links related to SP2 posted on their website for several
months now, including:

Windows XP Service Pack2 - Resources for IT Professionals
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro.../winxpsp2.mspx

Also see:

Service Pack Installation Checklist
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spackins.htm

While at work, visit the following website, download SP2, record it
to a CD, go home and install it. You'll feel much better doing so!

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Network Installation Package:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...t/default.aspx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"ZenWarrior" wrote:

| As some here [MVPs] may well know, I have already determined there is no way
| in Hades I will install XPSP2 on my home machine for at least several months.
| However, I thought I might subject my office PC to potential misery, but now
| discover my university is truly ****ed off at Microsoft for the "timeliness"
| of this release and has decided to entirely block *all* campus-wide XPSP2
| updates. For how long, they do not say. The tech folks do not want the
| nightmare of exploded servers and thousands of students' computers no longer
| working. (Hey, can you blame them?)
|
| Way to go Microsoft. Between not effectively communicating the update
| process to consumers and now wreaking havoc on university campuses, you could
| not have made this whole thing any more ineffective and troublesome. I *WILL
| NOT* install XPSP2 on my home computer and *CANNOT* install it on my office
| computer. What a fiasco. Is there *anyone* with a properly functioning brain
| at Microsoft these days?
|
| For the third time here--Duh!

Carey, I cannot address Microsoft's cluelessness.


"Carey Frisch [MVP]" wrote:
> Q. "The tech folks do not want the nightmare of exploded servers and
> thousands of students' computers no longer working....."
> A. I haven't come across any documentation to support your theory.
> Q. "Between not effectively communicating the update process to consumers
> and now wreaking havoc on university campuses, you could not have made >
> this whole thing any more ineffective and troublesome...."
> A. Microsoft has had several links related to SP2 posted on their website for > several
> months now, including:
> Windows XP Service Pack2 - Resources for IT Professionals
>http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro.../winxpsp2.mspx
> Also see:
> Service Pack Installation Checklist
> http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spackins.htm
>
> While at work, visit the following website, download SP2, record it
> to a CD, go home and install it. You'll feel much better doing so!
> Windows XP Service Pack 2 Network Installation Package:
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
> --
> Carey Frisch
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows XP - Shell/User
> Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
> http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...t/default.aspx

My point is to follow the advice I offered previously:

While at work, visit the following website, download SP2, record it
to a CD, go home and install it. You'll feel much better doing so!

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Network Installation Package:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Also see:

Service Pack Installation Checklist
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spackins.htm

Microsoft plans on making SP2 on CDs widely available for free
in the very near future. In the meantime, download SP2, record it
to a CD, install SP2, then pass the SP2 CD on to a friend.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...t/default.aspx

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"ZenWarrior" wrote:

| And your point is? (Oh, that proves me entirely wrong and you entirely right,
| eh?)
|
| Or in other words, how does that change or negate the problem at my and the
| other universities the article mentions? One point is it took *me* to inform
| you after you denied the problem existed at all. Maybe I should be an MVP.
|
| BTW, any remaining vestige of respect I have for an MVP, you are fast
| destroying.

ZenWarrior wrote:

> And your point is? (Oh, that proves me entirely wrong and you entirely right,
> eh?)
>
> Or in other words, how does that change or negate the problem at my and the
> other universities the article mentions? One point is it took *me* to inform
> you after you denied the problem existed at all. Maybe I should be an MVP.
>
> BTW, any remaining vestige of respect I have for an MVP, you are fast
> destroying.

One needs to really query the purpose behind any local
decisions for implementing Windows XP SP2 before first
lambasting the resident MVP who had responded to the
original post. Decisions to allow installation of SP2
or to delay their installation are all made with good
intentions based on the collected wisdoms of their local
experts. At this institution, in this particular setting
within this place, the decision was given to departmental
system administrators to determine whether or not SP2 can
be installed. But such authority only reflects the wide
variation in computing usage. Your university might not
be so liberal in allowing computer usage or have a broad
range in computer utilization. But if you would not put
Windows XP SP2 in your home machine, then why should your
school's IT administrators and managers, if they to share
the same viewpoint as you, allow installation of SP2 in the
institution's computers just right now?

It obviously is the most troublesome patch since NT SP2. OTOH it probably
has to break a few eggs to protect the system, even though the eggs are MS
eggs. I'm going to wait for things to settle out a little. They will
probably come up with an SP2a.

The cyber terrorism out there is getting so out of hand that it is quite
literally making computers less and less usable because of the greater and
greater restrictions that have to be put in place. The address book is
unusable in a practical manner for sharing with other apps because viruses
use it too. You tighten things up, and you can't share resources.
Computers on the network won't even respond to a ping. Of course with no
penalties of consequence, it's not likely to change any time soon.

I'm not going to dis anybody else here for not having the answers that I
also don't have. The OS itself is not a match for a cyber terrorist world.
Patch upon patch carries with it a lot of unmanagabililty. I have SP2
working some places and some places not. I have the most trouble with the
laptops but others have it on desktops too.

Regards,
Jack T.

Jack T. wrote:

> It obviously is the most troublesome patch since NT SP2. OTOH it probably
> has to break a few eggs to protect the system, even though the eggs are MS
> eggs. I'm going to wait for things to settle out a little. They will
> probably come up with an SP2a.
>
> The cyber terrorism out there is getting so out of hand that it is quite
> literally making computers less and less usable because of the greater and
> greater restrictions that have to be put in place. The address book is
> unusable in a practical manner for sharing with other apps because viruses
> use it too. You tighten things up, and you can't share resources.
> Computers on the network won't even respond to a ping. Of course with no
> penalties of consequence, it's not likely to change any time soon.
>
> I'm not going to dis anybody else here for not having the answers that I
> also don't have. The OS itself is not a match for a cyber terrorist world.
> Patch upon patch carries with it a lot of unmanagabililty. I have SP2
> working some places and some places not. I have the most trouble with the
> laptops but others have it on desktops too.
>
> Regards,
> Jack T.


Yes, Windows NT SP2 was a particular bad patch but one
needs to approach Windows XP SP2 with the same trepidation
as was done with Windows NT SP4. There was plenty of local
testing of NT SP4 before it was accepted and it was driven
by the Y2K scare. One needs to approach Windows XP SP2 with
the same caution. And it will take the same amount of time,
if not longer due to the complexity of XP versus NT.

And as for gaining protection, a lot can be done through the
local system's gateway level. It might mean the loss of some
freedoms as one tucks in behind the blankets of gateways and
firewalls. But this is one price to pay. OTOH, introduction
of Windows XP-SP2 (and we are currently in a testing mode) is
not much different from taking a look at a new OS before its
system-wide introduction. This is fine for academic, corporate
and major business users. As for everyone else with vulnerable
systems, there might be no alternative unless a personal effort
is made to adopt the same principles used in the major systems.

Oh, you want me to *ignore* the instructions of my tech department? No way!
The tech folks at work are my friends--and I may one day need their help. If
they say do not install, I will take their advice over that offered by a MVP.
I have to live and work with my university's tech people, who have seemingly
made a very wise decision to block XPSP2.

BTW, I feel fine now. I do not wish to feel "much better." Thanks, but no
thanks.


"Carey Frisch [MVP]" wrote:
> My point is to follow the advice I offered previously:
> While at work, visit the following website, download SP2, record it
> to a CD, go home and install it. You'll feel much better doing so!

Sir, I agree with you entirely. I am not disputing their decision in the
least. I only found out about the blockage once I got to the office. That
said, I thought to try it out on a computer that someone would come and pick
up, and then leave another one that still worked, rather than install it on
my own computer where I myself would have to fix the almost inevitable
problems. Indeed, it is always better to experiment with OPM (other people's
money). <smile>

"Ghostrider" wrote:
> But if you would not put
> Windows XP SP2 in your home machine, then why should your
> school's IT administrators and managers, if they to share
> the same viewpoint as you, allow installation of SP2 in the
> institution's computers just right now?

ZenWarrior wrote:

> Sir, I agree with you entirely. I am not disputing their decision in the
> least. I only found out about the blockage once I got to the office. That
> said, I thought to try it out on a computer that someone would come and pick
> up, and then leave another one that still worked, rather than install it on
> my own computer where I myself would have to fix the almost inevitable
> problems. Indeed, it is always better to experiment with OPM (other people's
> money). <smile>
>

Sorry for being harsh. But the first system I used to test
SP2 was my personal Windows XP Pro computer. But I also had
all of the tools to do a complete restore should SP2 fail...
it was OK but IMHO a little bit "raw". <:-}}