windows xp service pack 2 rtm

As just about everybody knows by now, SP2 has been released to manufacturing.  For those of you who are IT professionals and developers, you can download the full SP2 install here.  Or if you are one of those bleeding-edge types who just cannot wait for a Windows update package. 

For awhile I thought I had the honor of having made the last check-in, but in the end there were at least two fixes that went in after mine. 

There has been a lot of press coverage.  Slashdot has linked to articles discussing IBM's hesitation, why SP2 makes a case for the benefits of P2P, and why hospitals have trouble patching systems.  We all worked long hours to build a product that has just the right balance of security, compatability and usability.  I understand IBM's hesitation, however.  As I found out during development, there are a lot of web apps out there that do strange things.  SP2 even caused issues with some of Microsoft's own internal web sites; controls had to be signed, pop-up windows had to be re-thought, etc.  To help in this transition, we have published a guide.  If you have a problem with IE that is not address by the guide, feel free to ask me or the IE bloggers.  I will be most effective in answering questions about Pop-up Blocker, download blocking and other browser UI related changes.

A lot of the feedback in the forums has been very postitive and that makes me feel good.  From time to time I get a question I did not put on the list--that question is “Why do you do it?  How can you work for them?”  Well, this is why I do what I do.  When IE ships, I have a direct effect on tens--if not hundreds--of millions of people.  I always wanted to write software that would be used by real people and IE is about as real as it gets.  I do not always get my way and sometimes things take longer then I want, but that is the nature of corporations.  You can sit around and complain, you can start a competing project, or you can do something about it.  Circumstances led me to try to make things better from the inside.  Currently I have removed about as much code from the Longhorn tree as I have added, and I have plans to get rid of more.  Did you notice the Media bar is no longer in IE in SP2?