A New Old Version of Windows

Now that Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) has been in Release Candidate stage for a couple of months now, it’s safe to expect its release any time now. Service packs, as we’ve discussed in class, are simply roll-ups of all previous updates that have occured since either the last service pack, or since the initial release of the product. Since SP2 arrived almost four years ago, you can bet that SP3 will hold lots of updates as well as a few minor surprises.

I personally have not tried the RC for SP3 just yet — I prefer to hold out until an official release from Microsoft. But I have poked around and have tried to determine exactly what SP3 will hold in store for us.

Vista Is Still Better
Well, at least according to Microsoft, it is. Here’s my take. Microsoft realizes that XP SP3 “makes Vista look like a chump“. So, they have to be extremely careful that SP3 doesn’t actually fix XP too much thereby canibilizing business away from Vista, which hasn’t exactly been earning IT praises. In fact, in a couple of places in the SP3 whitepaper, Microsoft tells us that “Windows Vista provides the most advanced security and management capability, but for PCs that cannot be upgraded to Windows Vista right now, Windows XP SP3 ensures these PCs have all available updates…”. In other words, according to Microsoft, if you want to be really updated, you should go out and buy Vista. But if your computer is too old to support Vista’s gigantism, well, here’s SP3.

If you’re in the SP3 crowd, here are some thing’s you’ll have to look forward to in the 70-580MB download:

Use With Network Access Protection (NAP)
Here’s something I’m was genuinely excited about. NAP is a new feature to Windows Server 2008, which allows the server OS to require certain prerequisites of its clients before allowing them access to the network, such as up-to-date virus protection, Windows firewall enabled, etc. As I understood it from TechEd 2007, this was functionality was going to exist only in Vista+ OSs, so in order to take full advantage of NAT, your clients had to be running Vista. Apparently not anymore!

Microsoft Management Console 3.0 (MMC)
We’ve had various implementations of MMC for a while now, which is basically a blank “toolbox” that admins can use by populating it with their favorite tools, via “snap-ins”. Version 3.0 provides an updated user interface with commonly used commands consistently showing on the right-hand side of the screen, as opposed to making users right click specific things.

WPA 2.0
If you have a wireless router and the equipment to support it, you should really choose to use WPA or WEP for your wireless security. If you have really new equipment that supports the new 802.11i standard (higher security!), than you’ll need an OS to support it. Right now, XP SP2 doesn’t support it — but SP3 will!

Updated Security Settings Explainations
On each of the local security settings in Local Security Policy Editor, a tab has been added that gives a nice, verbose explanation of each setting. From a teaching standpoint, this will be soooo much nicer than having to drag students through the proverbial slop detailing all of the important settings.

No IE7?
In a very interesting twist, IE7 is not included in SP3. Many organizations (Draughons included) still have not upgraded to IE7 for various reasons and this SP seems to respect those wishes. Updates to both versions 6 and 7 will be included in the SP, so if you have installed IE7 (like me) you’ll still receive the cumulative updates.

A Boost in Performance
Unscientifically-based reports from early SP3 releases have indicated a 10% or so performance boost. Sweet. What’s interesting about this is that there’s no mention of it in the SP3 whitepaper. Again, an interesting omission, which I think points to MS not wanting to take too much attention of Windows ME Vista.

What I Was Hoping to See
Two features I was expecting to see, but didn’t: IPv6 support and ReadyBoost, Microsoft’s way of leveraging a USB drive as makeshift RAM — which significantly increases the speed (and perceived speed) of day to day computing.

The reported 10% performance boost is enough for me — I’m ready to download this thing. Almost to the point of trying out the RC. I’ll keep you posted.