Less than a quarter of PCs – 24% – running Windows XP have installed the operating system’s second service pack (SP) 2, launched eight months ago.
Forty percent of organizations are actively avoiding SP2 while just seven percent have accepted the fix according to PC and IT asset-tracking specialist AssetMertix.
AssetMetrix, who surveyed 136,000 machines running in 251 North American corporations, found more than half of the companies it polled – 52% – still lack any formal policy on downloading and installing the service pack.
The vendor warned these companies face support problems in future as they risked allowing multiple editions of Windows XP to exist in their infrastructure.
Based on our research, a substantial number of companies have yet to decide whether to accept or embargo Windows XP SP 2, AssetMertix Research Labs managing director Steve O’Halloran said in a statement.
Windows XP SP 2 was designed by Microsoft to beef-up security in it latest desktop operating system, which by the time SP 2 launched was nearly three years old. SP 2 was a response to a growing tide of spyware, worms and other forms of attack, which introduced new Media Player 9 security settings, e-mail safeguards in Outlook Express, a pop-up blocker and a Windows Firewall.
SP2, though, hit problems after launch as it emerged it clashed with at least 200 commercial applications in addition to end-users own internally developed software. Many organizations, including Hewlett Packard, delayed rollout in order to evaluate the potential for SP 2 to clash with applications they ran.
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A spokesperson for Microsoft yesterday said AssetMetrix’s findings were inline with its own expectations for update of SP 2, adding companies should take up to 18 months to evaluate deployment. After the recommended testing and evaluation period, Microsoft is seeing an up-tick in enterprise customers that are either deploying, or committing to deploy, the spokesperson said.
Microsoft claimed a 77% of enterprise customers have given Microsoft a commitment to deploy SP 2 during the next six months. Last October, Microsoft said 106 million copies of SP 2 had been downloaded or distributed.
