XP SP2 other than windows update

Tue Sep 7 10:34:28 UTC 2004

not in all areas

they are not at any of the retail stores here.

On Mon, 2004-09-06 at 18:58, Jim Popovitch wrote:
> Fwiw, XP SP2 CDs are available at some PC retail outlets.  I picked one
> up from Best Buy late last week, and saw them again at a CompUSA over
> the weekend.  As with the download, ymmv.
> 
> -Jim P.
> 
> On Mon, 2004-09-06 at 21:32, Michel Py wrote:
> > Nanog folk,
> > Last week, I downloaded XP2 SP2 on one the major P2P networks (eDonkey).
> > 
> > 
> > Preliminary/FYI:
> > 
> > None of the large organizations I am involved with has deployed SP2 on a
> > large scale yet. Users that request it will likely get it (from a share
> > on a corporate server that is); some organizations are also testing
> > their SP2 image by rolling out some of the new PCs with SP2; help desks
> > are still building FAQs about it as problems generated by early adopters
> > pop in. I expect most to push it to the desktop with SMS or similar
> > within a month.
> > 
> > 
> > Hard facts:
> > 
> > - The P2P download took two hours. Ymmv.
> > 
> > - The file was legit (I did a binary compare with the original;
> > matches). The file I downloaded is WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe. This
> > is the full install; the slower your connection to the net is the more
> > you want to download this only one-time and make it available locally
> > and burn a CD with it.
> > 
> > - The original file has been available from Microsoft for at least three
> > weeks free of charge, no need for any kind of signup.
> > 
> > 
> > Comments:
> > 
> > - If I did not have the original file I would not have know which one to
> > grab. The most distributed files were complete slipstreams, not SP only
> > (I selected the best file of matching size).
> > 
> > - Two hours for 266 MB is not too shabby in the absolute, but the
> > original downloaded in less than 15 minutes from home each time and
> > tried and a lot less from the office depending where I was.
> > 
> > - On some P2P systems this kind of download speed can typically be
> > achieved only by sharing files to get a good U/L ratio. People that
> > don't share files would get at the end of the queue.
> > 
> > - I typically get much better download speeds while sharing than people
> > with an el-cheapo router because I QOS the upstream; one of the
> > annoyances of sharing files is that it will tend to clog the upstream
> > making even surfing rather painful.
> > 
> > - Downloading with P2P requests installing a client and possibly poking
> > holes in the NAT/Firewall.
> > 
> > - There is a trust issue. When the file I get is from Microsoft from a
> > download that I initiated myself not by clicking on a link provided by
> > someone else, I would tend to trust it. OTOH, all P2P systems feature
> > large amounts of illegal contents, including some that does not even
> > exist (Norton utilities 2004, anyone?).
> > 
> > - I never experienced nor heard any significant pipe clogging because of
> > SP2. Contrary to some FUD propagated earlier there was no operational
> > issue as a consequence of the download process.
> > 
> > 
> > Conclusion:
> > I did not see any advantage of using P2P to download XP SP2 and several
> > drawbacks. I will continue to download patches directly from vendors.
> > 
> > Michel.
> > 
> 
Thornton
Cierra Group
www.cierragroup.com
Efficient Licensing and Consulting