The update makes significant changes to Windows in the name of increased security. Microsoft released SP2 in August last year. Eighty-four, or 40.7%, of the remaining companies had not installed SP2 from their XP machines, while 16 companies, or 7.7%, had updated their XP-based PCs, according to the AssetMatrix study. Of the 251 companies surveyed, 44 had fewer than 10 PCs running Windows XP. But overall "more companies are tending to hold back on SP2 than accept it," AssetMetrix said. 'They would rather Microsoft put something out secure and correct then rush it,' Dinsmore claimed."The popularity of Windows XP SP2 tends to decrease slightly as company size increases," according to the study. Ted Dinsmore, president of Conchango, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner company in the US, said he didn't think customers were 'too bothered' by the delays. By de-coupling the patches from features, no matter how important or justified the feature changes may be, they could create a schedule whereby customers could know when a service pack would be available,' Cherry said. 'This really seems to show the need to just keep service packs as a collection of tested patches and come up with other ship vehicles to release changes to the features-via say a feature pack. Service packs traditionally only included bug fixes and patches but Microsoft had opted to use Windows XP SP2 to deliver an enhanced set of security features, such as Windows Firewall and Windows Security Center. Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a US newsletter, said the delay illustrated the difficulty of integrating new features with a set of constantly-evolving patches. However ,one reseller, who requested anonymity, alleged that Microsoft had bumped into some security issues it couldn't resolve before June. The Microsoft spokesman said that the timing for the second release candidate may also be changed but would not give a reason for the delays. Microsoft security executives said 20 April that the second-release candidate would be released mid-May and Microsoft was still aiming to ship in the first half of 2004. The service pack moved into beta testing late last year and the first release candidate was made available mid-March.
The Windows client update incorporates a host of new security features but won't be released until sometime in the third quarter, a Microsoft spokesman said.Ĭompany executives had promised repeatedly that Windows XP SP2 would be available in the first half of 2004. Microsoft has confirmed that its much-anticipated Windows XP Service Pack 2 has been delayed for release until almost spring.
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