IT managers are ignoring Microsoft's advice to move
rapidly to install Service Pack 2, and are treating SP2 as a new
operating system rather than just an upgdate to Windows
XP.
The update aims to improve Windows' security - and Microsoft's
reputation - through extensive changes to Windows XP's default
settings, new tools and a new patch management system. But
businesses are putting SP2 through a more rigorous testing
procedure than usual with upgrades because of the scale of the
changes, which Microsoft has admitted are likely to break many
existing applications.
"We are treating this as an OS upgrade," said an IT director at
a major international IT company.
Although Microsoft has released SP2 to manufacturing, which
marks the completion of the software, it may be months before even
the most adventurous of users sees it on XP's online update
feature, free CDs or new PCs. Enterprise users will probably
receive the update from their company's own servers through a
centralised installation process.
Enterprises face the longest process for getting SP2 up and
running, and will be first in line for the software, starting from
next week. Most PCs will not need SP2's full 256Mbytes - those with
SP1 and up-to-date patches, for example, will need less
updating.
Microsoft said XP Home Edition installations would face
an 80Mbyte average download, while XP Professional desktops would
average 100Mbyte. The download will be 20Mbytes bigger for PCs
without SP1 installed.
Microsoft is urging users to switch on XP's Automatic Update
feature, which downloads patches in the background, and expects to
distribute SP2 to about 100 million PCs via this method in the next
two months. Users who want to download manually will be able to do
so by the end of August. New PCs with SP2 preloaded are expected to
appear in September and October. Users outside North America can
expect to wait longer.
Microsoft describes the service pack as a quantum leap in PC
security and is urging consumers and businesses to roll it out as
soon as possible.
"This is not about fun and games," said Microsoft's Barry Goffe.
"SP2 is about improving the security of our customers'
infrastructure."
However, IT managers are in no hurry. IBM told workers not to
download SP2 until compatibility testing had been carried out. And
Sophos Antivirus said while it expected SP2 to improve security, it
had no immediate plans to deploy it internally.
"It's just not something we consider a very high priority
presently," said a Sophos spokesman, "and we will only roll SP2 out
when we are confident the time is right and we can do it
properly."
Another major IT firm said it would run extensive quality
assurance first. "There will be some inevitable compatibility
issues that are missed in QA," said the company's IT
director. "There will also be issues with the SP2 itself and we
fully expect Microsoft to follow up with fixes."
Many companies say they would like the benefits promised by the
service pack, but haven't yet switched to XP anyway. Sophos said it
had very few XP PCs running in its UK headquarters.
"We're still putting Windows 2000 on all new computers and we're
not about to change to XP any time soon," said a tech worker at
another company.
Matthew Broersma writes for Techworld