Windows XP SP2 retirement looms, puts users in tough spot
Half of the enterprise computers running the aged Windows XP operating system are still relying on the soon-to-be-retired Service Pack 2 (SP2), a researcher said today.
According to security risk and compliance management provider Qualys, 50% of the several hundred thousand PCs it monitors for its clients are still running Windows XP SP2.
"The normal thing for IT is not to muck around with something that works," said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer for Qualys, as he tried to explain why corporations have stuck with 2004's SP2 and not updated to SP3, which debuted two years ago. Microsoft will officially retire Windows XP SP2 on July 13. After that date, although it will continue to provide security updates for XP SP3, it will stop issuing patches for the older SP2.
