Windows XP SP3 preview a fake

At the beginning of the month I told you about Microsoft’s plans to introduce Service Pack 3 for Windows XP after the release of Windows Vista. Not long after, Jeremy reported on a SP3 "preview" that had been cobbled together by an independent party with no ties to Microsoft.

Microsoft has now responded to the situation, warning people against using the "preview." Mike Brannigan, an enterprise strategy and senior consultant at Microsoft, addressed the matter on the MS newsgroups, warning that "You would be well advised to stay clear of this FAKE SP3 package. It is NOT suitable for testing as it is NOT SP3."

Brannigan noted that while the hotfixes may be genuine, they’re not for public consumption. "It also contains a number of private hotfixes that are usually only issued to users with a specific identifiable problem," he wrote. "The hotfixes are not as rigorously tested at public released ones this is why we ask you to call PSS to get them so we can track you and provide further assistance such as new versions of the fixes etc as they become available."

Perhaps most important, Brannigan warned that users who apply this package may render themselves ineligible for support, since the package was not officially released by Microsoft.

Just installing all the "privates" on your PC may make you [sic] machine LESS stable and will also put you out of support from Microsoft or an OEM as you are installing incorrectly issued private hotfixes.

Ethan Allen, the owner and operator of The Hotfixthe site distributing the “preview"remained obstinate.

"Our pack is indeed a preview to what the official service pack will be, as these hotfixes will be in Service Pack 3 as proven by Microsoft’s own knowledge base," he wrote. "Each of these hotfixes can be obtained for free from Microsoft by calling their support lines."

Sure Mr. Allen, this is true. Of course, you normally only call when you have a problem. Would Mr. Allen also suggest that I ingest every pill in the pharmacy? After all, a doctor might prescribe those drugs, were I to have a problem. You might find this analogy horrible, but I’ll stick by it: the only reason you should install, for example, a hotfix that addresses problems with Intel High Definition audio functionality would be when you have problems with Intel High Definition audio functionality.

The notion that a service pack is merely the accumulation of hotfixes is ridiculous. If that were the case, it would be rather difficult to account for why Service Packs go through months of additional beta testing before they’re released to the public. Yet Mr. Allen refuses to take any responsibility:

Searching the keywords "kbwinxppresp3fix" and "kbwinxpsp3fix" at http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1 will provide you an exact list of what we give out, nothing more, nothing less. Each of these hotfixes can be obtained for free from Microsoft by calling their support lines.

This may very well be true, but it was Mr. Allen, not Microsoft, who collected all of these patches and tried to pass them off as an SP3 preview. Why Mr. Allen continues to distribute this pretend SP3 preview is beyond me, but remember folks: friends don’t let friends install security patches culled together by some random dude claiming that they represent SP3.