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SP4 for XP? I wonder if that will ever happen. I doubt that...if it takes 3 years or so to do a Service Pack, that means XP would be 10 years old before SP4. You would hope Vista would be the main OS for Windows consumers by that point.

On a funny note, that would be like releasing a Service Pack for Windows 98 this year.

"On a funny note, that would be like releasing a Service Pack for Windows 98 this year."

Not exactly. Windows XP is still relevant and the perfect tool for the job.

You would hope Vista would be the main OS for Windows consumers by that point (in three years).

You might hope that, but many of us do not. In three years I hope Windows 7 starts putting nails in Vista's coffin. It should be buried next to Windows ME and MS Bob.

yeah, highly doubt a SP4 for it... I'm surprised at a SP3, honestly.

NT4 - SP6a
Win 2k - SP4, 5 unofficially
XP - SP3
Vista - Already at SP1

The numbers are dwindling for service packs. I bet Vista will end at SP2 and no more.

Solid OS?
You probably just don't know any better and I feel sorry for you.
OS is not solid when even its "safe mode" is not safe.
I was cleaning one of those "trendy" Virusheat badboys yesterday on someone's computer and the thing is starting even in safe mode.
Windows is really a pinacle of bad software engineering.
Then again, this is still the "dark age" of computing.

Solid OS?
You probably just don't know any better and I feel sorry for you.
OS is not solid when even its "safe mode" is not safe.
I was cleaning one of those "trendy" Virusheat badboys yesterday on someone's computer and the thing is starting even in safe mode.
Windows is really a pinacle of bad software engineering.
Then again, this is still the "dark age" of computing. "

It never fails that here at OSNews someone says they're happy with Windows, someone else has to chime in with their sob story of how they had to deal with viruses/spyware.

In the hands of a competent computer user, Windows XP is a safe operating system, and is quite powerful.

In the hands of an ignorant user, yes, it can be a problem.

Please, there's no need to "feel sorry" for someone happy with their OS, and certainly no need to use a condescending tone to another OSNews member.

And then there is, here at Osnews, always someone (probably Windows admin that just discovered the registry editor) that has the need to chime in and claim complete nonsense that Windows can be secure and powerful in the hands of a skilled user.
No, it can't because it's faulty by design, so even Billy-upload-your-dollars-Gates can't make it secure and powerful without first redesigning it from ground up.
It's funny because people making that claim (you) think they can get away with it. But the problem is that there are already countless websites, articles, stories that directly disprove your claim.
So, again, no, Windows cannot be made secure and powerful because it's technically impossible.
And sorry, it's hard to talk to Windows users without being condescending.

And then there is, here at Osnews, always someone (probably Windows admin that just discovered the registry editor) that has the need to chime in and claim complete nonsense that Windows can be secure and powerful in the hands of a skilled user.
No, it can't because it's faulty by design, so even Billy-upload-your-dollars-Gates can't make it secure and powerful without first redesigning it from ground up.
It's funny because people making that claim (you) think they can get away with it. But the problem is that there are already countless websites, articles, stories that directly disprove your claim.
So, again, no, Windows cannot be made secure and powerful because it's technically impossible.
And sorry, it's hard to talk to Windows users without being condescending. "

I see you're taking advantage of the new mod system, troll! Well done!

Wow, you found me out. I just discovered the registry editor yesterday. And what's this neato thing called the command line? Wow, a batch script!? What's that? Group Policy? Neato!!

Try better, troll.

And for the record, I've got a pretty even split of SuSe, Ubuntu, and XP machines. So I see it from a far more objective view than a zealot such as yourself sees it.

I also actually work in the field, unlike someone such as yourself.

Yes, Windows is horribly insecure and unstable. Yet it seems to work well enough that everyone here gets there job done (and done well) and it leaves me enough time to post an argument with a faceless linux zealot on OSNews. Oh wait, gotta run; someone's driver update on SuSe just blew up X......

Edited 2008-04-22 21:21 UTC

just install sp2, go on windows update an you'll have 90% of sp3 (the set of patches released after sp2).

I'm currently typing on a 6 year old windows 2000 installation. It's only at SP2 ... I forgot to update it a long time ago and I had a bunch of cleanup/defrag programs running automatically. It's my bro's PC and all he does is play a few games and surf. I'm too scared of killing it to upgrade it to SP4.. heh

every so often you run into a Windows machine that just refuses to mess up

So what you're saying is your brother surfs the net using an insecure OS.

Windows 2000 SP2 is not a supported SP level, and hotfixes for it are not released.

He surfs the web using Opera behind a hardware firewall with an AV scanner that runs weekly (I HATE real time scanning.. ugh). In the last few years, he has gotten like 1 "trojan downloader" virus that was inert. He knows not to download random crap, he asks me before installing things. I routinely do check ups on it and no, it doesn't have any root kits installed, either.

yeah, it might be unsupported now and "insecure", but what version of windows IS secure?

Oh yeah I forgot about that. There is a performance increase. There were some blogs out I remember comparing performances on a machine with SP3 and on a machine without.

I shudder to mention it, really, but once again I'm wondering about side-by-side performance comparisons of XP with other OSes on the same machine ...

http://www.linuxloop.com/news/2008/04/21/linux-eee-pc-far-faster-th...