When was automatic update turned on by default?

I believe it was first turned on by default in Service Pack 2...

Can you buy Windows XP with Service Pack 2 already installed in it?

Last time I bought Windows XP (which was quite recently, within the last three months,) it came with Service Pack 1. I had to use WindowsUpdate to download and install Service Pack 2, then turned on the automatic update. Yes, automatic update was available on the machine, but it wasn't turned on by default, and in this case, it didn't work until I installed Service Pack 2.

If Microsoft is going to allow everyone to use Automatic Update, they better make sure that it is on by default, cannot be disabled without some feedback stating that doing so is extremely dangerous, and should make sure that Automatic Update works (I've still had to go back and reinstall hotfixes using Windows Update because Automatic Update seemed to fail, on this particular machine though every other machine I have with Automatic Update seems to work fine.)

Not that I have anything to worry about, as I legally own (well, I legally have licensed, since according to Microsoft, none of us own their software,) every copy of WindowsXP I have...

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