XP SP3
Dove in and installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 on my Everex Cloudbook last night (all night! Big updates on a little PC are slow). If not for anything else, I’m glad there’s a single update that will save me from having to do the 100+ other updates since SP2 on a new install of XP.
What kills me about most of the updates looking at the release notes is that most of everything in SP3 (listed as major items) has already been released previously as stand-alone updates. So basically I downloaded this huge 500MB file of stuff containing mostly stuff I already have. Nice.
There are a few new features that enhance networking. “Black Hole” router detection, which will help connection issues with routers that have a low packet size limit and don’t report dropped packets back properly. And Network Access Protection which looks like it’s targeted more at corporate customers than home users. It’s a method by which tech folks at a company can limit access to the network based on whether or not your PC meets or doesn’t meet a certain level of compliance with established corporate policies. So basically that means if your computer is determined to have a very outdated virus scanner, your PC will be restricted to access on the network, except for being able to connect to the servers that update your pattern files. Just one example.
There’s other updates, you can read about them HERE. I really don’t want to bore you with the details, I’m sure you can do that to yourself on your own time. The rumors are floating around that XP SP3 allegedly performs a little better than SP2 did. This might not mean much for folks out there running dual-core systems with 4 GB of RAM, but for us UMPC users with hardware specs from 3+ years ago, this could be quite an improvement to our Windows experience.
Whatever the case, I have to laugh at the fact that this is another roadblock in Microsoft’s path towards getting rid of XP from its lineup. Seems that Microsoft just isn’t going to be able to shake XP loose. Dell just announced that they’re going to take advantage of a loophole which will allow them to factory-install Windows XP using the “downgrade clause” in the license agreement.
Add that to the fact that if Microsoft wants to play in the UMPC space, they’re going to either have to come up with a version of Vista that is MUCH slimmer, or continue to provide XP….which is in fact what they are going to do, until 2010 I hear.
I like XP, still use it regularly, and hope to continue for a while. I’m not a Vista hater at all really. I’m typing this up on a Vista machine, and the wife is using a copy of Vista at home. I think it’s a good OS, but I think in some situations XP just makes more sense. I would NEVER install Vista on my little 1.2Ghz Cloudbook. It just wouldn’t be worth it. Too big of a footprint for that little device. Microsoft needs to do a “Vista Core” version…heh, just like Windows Server 2008. Maybe not completely lacking a GUI, but obviously they know how to slim down an OS and make it run only the essentials.
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