Service packs from Microsoft, Apple

Microsoft and Apple both released service packs yesterday. The Microsoft one is more significant, and applies to nearly all data-center Windows Server users.

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 is for all editions of Windows Server 2003, including Storage Server. It also applies to Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

There’s a huge list of changes in SP2, many of which have been issued as hotfixes. I counted 61 security patches in SP2, but it’s unclear how many of those are new, and how many were already out as hotfixes.

The contents of SP2 itself range all over the map, and include dozens of changes to the .NET Framework, administration tools, applications compatibility fixes, cluster fixes, COM+, data access components, development tools and processes, drivers, distributed system services (like DNS and LDAP), Exchange services, file system fixes, graphics handling, Internet Information Services, Intellimirror, Internet Explorer, the kernel and hardware abstraction layer, message queuing and middleware, the network stack, Plug ‘n Play, printing, security infrastructure, the command shell, storage, terminal services, the installer engine, Windows Media services, and management instrumentation.

It doesn’t appear that SP2 introduces many new features, as the focus is on bug fixes and resolving compatibility issues. However, there are new functions for data access, distributed systems, file systems, message queuing, and networking. For example, there’s support for WPA2-based WiFi security, and a new XML parser called XmlLite.

As always, it is recommended that you test SP2 before installing it on production servers, or otherwise rolling out, to ensure that there aren’t unwanted side effects of all these patches and fixes. Be sure to read the release notes for caveats; there are quite a few.

By contrast, Apple’s update is pretty minor, though it also addresses a lot of security fixes. The company released Mac OS X 10.4.9 yesterday. It offers changes to the company’s .Mac online service, fixes for Bluetooth wake-up issue, bug fixes for iChat, iCal and iSync, networking and modem fixes, and some fixes for print issues. There’s also a smattering of fixes for third-party applications and a few driver upgrades and fixes. Minor stuff. Rumor is that Mac OS X 10.5 should be out in April, so the 10.4 lineage is clearly in maintenance mode.