North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical RE: XP SP2 other than windows update
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
|