I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment. It's disgusting that MS sells OS's that don't have the latest patches installed already. Here's the anaolgy I'm using to explain the situation to people I encounter.

Imagine buying a car. Just before you leave, the dealer says "Oh, the brakes don't work. There's a repair shop a few blocks down the street. I suggest you take the car over there as soon as you can." Hmm... I guess this analogy has one hole, Microsoft doesn't tell you up front that you need to install the patches.

Anyway, I always have a set of the latest patches for the various MS operating systems ready to go when I need them.

Lately, I've put together a CD with SP2, some registry scripts to tighten security, Firefox, Thunderbird, Spybot, etc on it. I now mailing it to clients and friends, because who the hell wants to download something that can be nearly 300 megs. I even cary a few with me at all times in case I meet someone who needs it.

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