IE blog joke/flamebait, and get XP SP2 via BitTorrent

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IE blog joke/flamebait, and get XP SP2 via BitTorrent

August 11, 2004

Tony Chor, the Group Program Manager for the IE team, writes:

We also came up with a very original idea – popup blocking.

The idea was so ridiculous I knew it had to be a joke. And it was, when Tony later writes:

For the record, I was joking about our “innovation” around popup blocking.

But not after several not entirely unexpected flames (I found the popup blocking innovation comment from a site flamed the blog post too) from people who didn’t get it.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen this yet (it was on Slashdot - I don’t read it though, perhaps you do), you can get Windows XP Service Pack 2 via BitTorrent at SP2Torrent.com. Not from Microsoft (so it’s not “official”), but you got to wonder why Microsoft doesn’t embrace BitTorrent for distributing XP SP2 and do away with all that initial hoo-ha about staggered release schedules.

Posted by Chu Yeow at August 11, 2004 SGT |

Permalink |

| Category: Browsers, Mozilla

10 Comments & TrackBacks ()

It would be interesting to know whether or not Tony knew that a “J” in a <span style=”font-face: Wingdings”> would only show as an emoticon on Win/IE or not. If he did know, that’s a really ballsy double-joke.

Posted by: Phil Ringnalda on August 11, 2004 11am

So that’s what that weird “J” was. I guess it is a double-joke then.

Posted by: Cheah Chu Yeow on August 11, 2004 11am

Windows XP Service Pack 2
Vaikka Microsoft ei vielä olekaan julkaissut Service Pack 2:sta kaiken kansan tietoisuuteen, se on kuitenkin imuroitavissa MS:n sivuilta.

Hyvänä lisänä SP2:n saa myös BitTorrentilla osoitteesta http://www.sp2torrent.com/. Ei lienee mikään yllätys, e…

Posted by: Koodaus.net Blog on August 11, 2004 3pm

The reason that Microsoft doesn’t release it that way is because end users have no easy way to verify that it is the actual service pack, and not some trojan.
I suppose they also wonder why they should bother. They’ve got the bandwidth, after all.

Posted by: Ed on August 12, 2004 1am

Hmmm… If Microsoft released and hosted the torrents, shouldn’t it be safe? Of course, I don’t know anything about BitTorrent’s security aspects when I ask that.

Posted by: Cheah Chu Yeow on August 12, 2004 1am

It would be easy to verify that the downloaded file is the official version, using digital signatures and/or MD5 hashes. I think that the SP2 upgrade is already signed by Microsoft’s secret key. MD5 hashes are also available from sources who have downloaded the file from Microsoft’s servers. (I don’t think they’re available from Microsoft itself, although they could be if Microsoft chose to use a distribution method like this.)

Posted by: Matt Brubeck on August 12, 2004 2am

Microsoft doesn’t use BitTorrent to offer upgrades because only 1 out of every 10,000 Windows users knows what BitTorrent is or gives a shit about it.

Posted by: some guy on August 15, 2004 1am

Microsoft doesn’t use BitTorrent to offer upgrades because only 1 out of every 10,000 Windows users knows what BitTorrent is or gives a shit about it.

Amen, Reverend. Using BT to distribute Windows updates would be like asking your Grandma to sign up for a Blogger account instead of writing her recipes on postcards. Most Windows users wouldn’t even be able to tell you what a font is, how could they understand swarm downloads and MD5 hashes? They just don’t care. They have jobs and families and responsibilities instead of blogs and warez and tacky XP themes.

Posted by: 59a98f181fe383907e520a391d75b5a7 on August 15, 2004 1am

I am merely suggesting using BT as an alternative.

Anyway, aforementioned Grandmas probably won’t even know what SP2 is and won’t even bother to update. ;)

Posted by: Cheah Chu Yeow on August 15, 2004 1pm

Windows SP2

Posted by: Elliott C. Back on August 16, 2004 3am

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