BleepingComputer.com: Anyone Bold Enough For This-------not Me.

Windows XP SP3 RC is ready for download to everyone. Would like to see pros and cons of this service pack for those brave enough to go there.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/articl..._OS&nlid=41

Quote

"we strongly encourage only those who are comfortable installing pre-release code to download Windows XP SP3,"

Was all I needed to see to know I am not about to play with my stable XP system right now.

If I had my old computer-the one that died last week-I'd bite the bullet and try it. But with this new one-it ain't gonna happen.

Just did it on my XP VM - I'll see what happens!

Whew, good luck usasma!

usasma, on Dec 20 2007, 12:45 PM, said:

Yeah, I did that with one of the earlier beta releases. Nothing broke, but nothing really seemed to have changed.

I really don't see what all the rush is about. Installing pre-releases (especially from MS) is problematic at best, since these may contain bugs or only a portion of the final release, which one would then have to install anyway.
Unless one enjoys testing software and working through some potential bugs, troubleshooting, and finding work-arounds, it seems to be a waste of time, not to mention dangerous for most users.
Regards,
John

I agree.

Betas and pre-release software and operating systems aren't meant for the masses.

I'll await usasma's review, I got confidence in him

Amazing Andrew, on Dec 21 2007, 06:30 AM, said:

Yeah that's what I thought when I read this about SP3. Seems it's mostly an accumalation of the hundreds of updates and fixes for XP since it's first release. It's not the major upgrade SP2 was.
http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/xp_sp3.asp

I don't think I'm going to bother with SP3.
But say when SP3 is out of beta will people have to eventually have to take the plunge and get SP3?

I hope not because I quiet like SP2 and I really don't want SP3 which will be dead weight on my system because I always install my updates.

From what I've read on the web, SP3 is mostly a bunch of security patches along with some upgrades to the networking stack. I doubt that anyone will notice any drastic improvements with it. And I suspect that it's value will be like that of SP2 - it saves you from stepping through the interminable Windows Updates one-by-one. At last count I saw 115 updates available for systems with a fresh install of SP1 that was upgraded to SP2. That's a lot of sitting around for one person - especially if they're on dial-up!

Beta testing isn't for those who are faint of heart - a badly written program can hose your system just as surely as using a registry cleaner every day! But there are benefits to it. You get to interact with the folks who actually wrote the program, you usually get a copy of the final release as long as you've participated, you usually get invited to the next round of beta testing, you get the benefit of having new stuff before almost anyone else, and you get more experience with fixing your system after the beta breaks it!

I started with beta testing because the available programs just didn't do what I wanted. I stumbled upon BetaNews and was hooked! Since then, as opportunities have presented themselves, I've enrolled in bigger and better (hopefully) projects - both Open Source and commercial ventures.

The drawback is that your system breaks - unexpectedly. And normal troubleshooting may not fix it. Leaving you with the only option being a format and reinstall (and that's how I became interested in disk imaging programs - to reduce the downtime when I hosed my system!).

Now if only we could get some free versions of Adobe After effects or the like for free when we "helped" the beta version along. That stuff is so expensive.

usasma, on Dec 21 2007, 05:52 PM, said:

Maybe that's why they killed Autopatcher?

usasma, on Dec 22 2007, 03:52 AM, said:

Isn't that the point of Service Packs originally? Just a roll-up of all the patches so you don't have to download them separately and reboot the computer all the time. SP2 was an aberration.