Downloading XP security patches question

[cy]

didn't even come close to saying MS wouldn't provide more service packs for XP.... what I did imply was... MS is plenty capable of hijacking current XP systems ... a hemm... help folks onward to vista.

what I did stated is vista is bloatware... at no time did I state vista is not stable and didn't give full function. don't believe me... spend a few hours and track down what each of the massive amount of services running in the background... consuming resources.

naturally PC mfg and software firms climbed on the vista train... who wouldn't go along with a forced cycle of upgrades.... more sales for all... due to natural progression of hardware performance to $$$..... hardware costs are no longer a barrier... now it's down to forced upgrades for existing software and of course ... business' resistance to vista.... it got so bad entire divisions of government would issue edicts of no vista. to get MS's attention enough to change availability dates for XP... it would have to be resistance on a massive scale.

If you really think that there would've been no Service Pack 3 for WinXP, under any circumstance whatsoever (rave reviews of Vista, etc), you're not being realistic. Service Packs are just part of the Windows scene. WinNT had six SPs. Win2000 had four. WinXP has had three, Vista has had one. There's no way Microsoft would run the remaining five years of WinXP support without releasing a Service Pack.

A Service Pack is not a political gesture, it's a big bundle of updates and compatibility fixes. SP3 for WinXP was already overdue, people were griping at the ~70 post-SP2 updates required on a WinXP SP2 system.

 

[mechBgon]

didn't even come close to saying MS wouldn't provide more service packs for XP.... what I did imply was... MS is plenty capable of hijacking current XP systems ... a hemm... help folks onward to vista.

what I did stated is vista is bloatware... at no time did I state vista is not stable and didn't give full function. don't believe me... spend a few hours and track down what each of the massive amount of services running in the background... consuming resources.

naturally PC mfg and software firms climbed on the vista train... who wouldn't go along with a forced cycle of upgrades.... more sales for all... due to natural progression of hardware performance to $$$..... hardware costs are no longer a barrier... now it's down to forced upgrades for existing software and of course ... business' resistance to vista.... it got so bad entire divisions of government would issue edicts of no vista. to get MS's attention enough to change availability dates for XP... it would have to be resistance on a massive scale.

The bottom line: you reached the flashpoint and had to vent about Vista somewhere. So you did it here. I hope you're done now, because I am. Let's let geepondy have his thread back :)

Tangentially, note that as long as you can get an OEM Vista Business license (or under Volume Licensing, for corporations and government agencies), you can exercise downgrade rights to run WinXP Pro. So there is no need for Microsoft to extend WinXP availability, when Vista's downgrade-rights option already provides that option until late 2017. everything you could want to know about using downgrade rights to run WinXP on a Vista license (PDF file) The downgrade is also not a permanent one-way deal, you can switch back to Vista if/when desired.

MechBgon - HUGE thanks for all the detailed links, posts, utilities that you have posted. It has been an invaluable resource.

Thanks for the props, I try as best I can :tinfoil: