What % of Windows XP machines have SP2

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Guest

I'd love to know what percentage of XP machines have updated to SP2? Is it
60%...90%...more?
As a Windows XP based developer I'd like to know what assumptions I can make
about my market.
Is this information available anywhere? Where is is published?

Yours sincerely,
Paul N.
 
it's hard to know the exact number of XP installs at SP2, however, i'm
pretty darn sure 100% of them should have it.
 
Xenomorph said:
it's hard to know the exact number of XP installs at SP2, however, i'm
pretty darn sure 100% of them should have it.
Click to expand...

100% SHOULD have it, but I'd be willing to bet that less than 50% DO
have it.

There are a lot of users out there that don't even know about Windows
Update.
 
I'd also suspect it's a high %age - but surely someone in Microsoft can give
us a definitive answer. SP2 guarantees DirectX9.0c so thats why I want to
know.
 
Paul N said:
I'd also suspect it's a high %age - but surely someone in Microsoft can
give
us a definitive answer. SP2 guarantees DirectX9.0c so thats why I want to
know.
Click to expand...

How could MS possibly know how many XP installations have SP2?
 
Rock said:
How could MS possibly know how many XP installations have SP2?
Click to expand...

How? Because Windows XP phones home in the background. And Microsoft
also knows how many illegal copies are out there too. Or so they claim.
For example, they reported a few years back that 25% of the Windows
copies sold in the state of Michigan, were illegal.
 
Uncle Grumpy said:
100% SHOULD have it, but I'd be willing to bet that less than 50% DO
have it.

There are a lot of users out there that don't even know about Windows
Update.
Click to expand...

Well a lot of computers got screwed up when SP2 was installed. Including
3 of mine. The fix was to uninstall it. Two of those computer were
replaced and had SP2 already preinstalled, which works fine.

Also there are a number of people who has been burned from Windows
Updates besides SP2. I still update this one here (except IE7). But
about 4 times a year, Windows Update will screw up Explorer (both the
file manager and the shell). Although waiting for the next monthly
update will usually correct it. I have seen this happen on Windows XP
and 2000 machines.

Do to this fact, I know people who won't do Windows Updates anymore. And
frankly I don't blame them. Nothing worse than an Update to toast your
OS. Who needs that crap? Yes the reason for Windows Updates is mainly
for security updates. But Windows is always going to be unsecured after
zillion of updates anyway. Thus this is why we run firewalls, antivirus,
and anti-spyware for. ;)
 
Paul N said:
I'd also suspect it's a high %age - but surely someone in Microsoft
can give us a definitive answer. SP2 guarantees DirectX9.0c so thats
why I want to know.
Click to expand...

Why not do what other software does, including Microsoft. Like MS Flight
Simulator for example. That is to check what version of DirectX is
installed. And if it isn't high enough, inform the user they need the
newer version.
 
BillW50 said:
How? Because Windows XP phones home in the background. And Microsoft
also knows how many illegal copies are out there too. Or so they
claim. For example, they reported a few years back that 25% of the
Windows copies sold in the state of Michigan, were illegal.
Click to expand...

None of my Windows Xp installations phone home in the background and I am
pretty sure there are a lot more like me who never installed WGA or if they
did, have blocked it from internet access.
 
RA said:
None of my Windows Xp installations phone home in the background and
I am pretty sure there are a lot more like me who never installed WGA
or if they did, have blocked it from internet access.
Click to expand...

Then Microsoft makes things up. So which is it?
 
BillW50 said:
How? Because Windows XP phones home in the background. And Microsoft also
knows how many illegal copies are out there too. Or so they claim. For
example, they reported a few years back that 25% of the Windows copies
sold in the state of Michigan, were illegal.
Click to expand...

Phones home - how so you mean WGA? Not everyone has WGA installed, and what
about computers that don't have internet access, computers in domain
settings, etc?

The way to come up with a number would be by a statistical survey.
 
RA said:
None of my Windows Xp installations phone home in the background and I am
pretty sure there are a lot more like me who never installed WGA or if they
did, have blocked it from internet access.
Click to expand...


Are you saying you are not getting any updates? Whenever you get any
updates, M$ gets the information about your system whether you like it
or not. There are some computers which are never online and so they
only get updates by someone downloading for them on a flash drive. But
these are very few about 0.5% of the systems with Windows XP and
upwards.
 
BillW50 said:
Why not do what other software does, including Microsoft. Like MS Flight
Simulator for example. That is to check what version of DirectX is
installed. And if it isn't high enough, inform the user they need the
newer version.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bill,
I will do that. But often thats enough to put off some people who might
otherwise be your customer. Particularly the people who don't even know what
DirectX is. I want my product to work on 90% of all XP machines out there
without having to install extra stuff - but I also want to use the latest
technology that will be available on those 90% of computers. Thats why I need
to know what %age have SP2. If more than 90% have it - I'll go with
DirectX9.0c, if less than 90% have it, I'll go with DirectX8.1.

I was really hoping someone reading this would have access to that
information, or know of a good statistics website that does. For example:
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
....however these stats aren't much use to me as their users are web savvy
and therefore more likely to have SP2. I'd like a more generic sample of the
XP userbase. Google used to publish such statistics - but alas no more.
 
BillW50 said:
How? Because Windows XP phones home in the background. And Microsoft
also knows how many illegal copies are out there too. Or so they claim.
Click to expand...

Or so YOU claim.

Bozo.
 
RA said:
None of my Windows Xp installations phone home in the background and I am
pretty sure there are a lot more like me who never installed WGA or if they
did, have blocked it from internet access.
Click to expand...

Billw50 needs to change his email addie to Bozow50
 
"BillW50" wrote:
Click to expand...

AFAIK you can also re-distribute DirectX (but I don't think you can
re-distribute SP2) and thus have the app prompt and install it, but
the downside is that you'd catch all the support calls when this
breaks on old drivers, etc.
I will do that. But often thats enough to put off some people who might
otherwise be your customer. Particularly the people who don't even know what
DirectX is. I want my product to work on 90% of all XP machines out there
without having to install extra stuff - but I also want to use the latest
technology that will be available on those 90% of computers.
Click to expand...

You may hit other walls, and the devil is in the details. For
example, you'd want to avoid being locked into nVidia and ATi, and be
able to run on integrated graphics too.

If non-gaming users balk at a new DirexctX, they are likely to flat
out refuse to buy a costly SVGA card for your app.

Here's a case of "the devil is in the details"; a game used
PixelShader 1.1, yet claimed to work with a low spec such as "Pentium
II 400MHz, 128M RAM, GeForce 2" etc.

However, the "budget" GeForce 4 cards (which may account for 75% of
"GeForce 4" sales) don't support PixelShader 1.1, so they got their
ass kicked by folks with (say) Pentium 4 2GHz, 512M RAM, budget
GeForce 4, along with those using integrated graphics of course.

"How the folk am I supposed to know what 'PixelShader 1.1' is??"

So if you're using a high-version DirectX, be careful the feature set
you require is not far more restrictive than the SP level.


The other questions are:

1) When do you plan to come to market?

The later, the less of an issue XP SP2 will be. I really hope you're
doing your homework on Vista compatibility, BTW.

2) Does your app require Internet access?

If it does, especially if it needs bband, then you'd be fair in
demanding SP2, as by the time you ship, it will be the only XP SP
level that is supported, and thus patched, and thus safe for Internet
use. You'd just require SP2, and that's it.

If it doesn't, then there may be a large hidden mass of pre-SP2 system
you could sell to, that don't have a burning need SP2 for safety, and
that won't be counted in any of the Internet-polled statistics.

Simply getting the huge wad of SP2 to a PC is a challenge that most
users may fail or decline, if they are not on bband Internet access.


------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Click to expand...
The most accurate diagnostic instrument
in medicine is the Retrospectoscope
 
Uncle Grumpy said:
Or so YOU claim.

Bozo.
Click to expand...

And the governement doesn't monitor Internet traffic and email, isn't
that right Mr. Grumpy? Maybe you don't recall years ago when you had to
register to use Microsoft's Knowledge base. And after I filled in just
my phone number and my address, Microsoft website came back with my
company I worked for, their address, and phone number. And then it asked
if this was me? And anybody who gets Windows Updates (which is most
people), Microsoft knows what you have installed. And yes, Microsoft has
reported to the major media, they know how many illegal copies are out
there. And they say ignorance is bliss, isn't that so Mr. Grumpy?
 
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