Legendary_Agent wrote:Go to C:/windows/system32 and copy your SP2 browseui.dll in that folder to somewhere safe, now install SP3 and replace the SP3 Broweui.dll with the one from SP2, now go and check the results, you will notice your feature is back.
It's not really back, though, is it? As far as Microsoft is concerned, the feature is gone, and if they actually enforced file versioning, like they do for their business installations, swapping a DLL would not pass muster, since the SP2 browseui.dll would have a different version than the SP3 version. Also - since it's a DLL, they could add new API calls in a future revision. Keeping the old one around would break future versions of software that call the new APIs in that specific DLL.
As for using a 3rd party tool that does the same function, I agree with you there - that's a better option. That's the one thing that consoles can't do, since you can't run unsigned code. However, this gets back to my open source point, I think. If someone removes an option from a closed source operating system, a third party can add it back, providing the closed sourced company doesn't sue them for infringing on patents. Again - open source avoids this, since the code can be modified at will, and you can leverage it any way you like, as long as you keep your derived work open source (i.e. GPL).
The main point I was trying to make above is that
any closed source software that has updates can also have features removed - operating systems on PCs included. My examples probably weren't the best, but that's what I came up with off the top of my head. And - of course, it's easier to hack your PCs to work around enforced changes - setting up a Bind/Apache system to fool a console update isn't nearly as easy as replacing a DLL.
However - it's only open source software that lets
you really determine what is and what isn't in your operating system. I think we can both agree on that.
On a personal note, thanks for taking the time to write your suggestions re: SP3. Unfortunately, I still don't plan on installing it.
My XP boxes are already fully patched with all of the 100+ hotfixes, etc.,
and the four new features aren't worth it to me.Cheers,
Paul