A current article that describes this release briefly, and puts it into context with other things one might expect from Microsoft, is at Windows Update By Sebastian Rupley, September 7, 2004, PC Magazine. Read it if you're interested.

Most of the problems that have been found with this release affect only SERVER VERSIONS of WinXP, and should have little impact on individual users. There are a few individual application programs that have been affected. Microsoft has released a list of about 50 programs that will require resetting some things, most of which will be of interest only to system administrators or those running WinXP Server programs.

The programs that individual users might have that could be affected are mainly those that require an "open port" for web communication in order for the program to run. Microsoft Watch, Sunday, August 15, 2004, Microsoft Lists Apps Affected by XP SP2 By Mary Jo Foley, lists a few of the programs known to be affected:

In an effort to head off support calls, Microsoft has published a list of about 50 programs from both the Redmond software giant and third-party software vendors that require tweaking in order to work properly with Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).
Among the applications that are encountering problems are Web servers, remote desktops, file-sharing applications, FTP clients, multimedia streaming software and e-mail notifications. A number of systems-management applications and games also require manual modifications in order to work properly with SP2, according to Microsoft

After you install Windows XP SP2, client applications may not successfully receive data from a server," acknowledges Microsoft in one of its Knowledge Base articles published to its Web site.

At the same time, some "server applications that are running on a Windows XP SP2-based computer may not respond to client requests," the Knowledge Base article added.

In the months leading up to the recent launch of its SP2 collection of security updates and other fixes, Microsoft had warned its customers that a number of its own applications would require modification in order to work correctly with SP2. Microsoft officials have warned that SQL Server 2000, Microsoft CRM 1.2 and Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 1.2 all would require tweaks.

In the recently published Knowledge Base article, Microsoft also admits that its Visual Studio .Net development tools and Systems Management Server 2003 products may require users to open network ports manually before they work properly with SP2.

Other information from the last article:

Other third-party programs which may require users to open ports manually in order to work with SP2 include:

Autodesk's AutoCAD 2000, 2002 and 2004 releases;
BMC Software's BMC Patrol for Windows 2000;
Computer Associates' ARCserve and eTrust 7.0 releases;
Macromedia's ColdFusion MX Server Edition 6;
Symantec's AntiVirus Corporate Edition 8.0 and Ghost Server Corporate Edition 7.5; and
Vertitas' Backup Exec version 9 and Volume Manager 3.1 products.

Among the third-party games that may require SP2 tweaks are several products from Atari, Electronic Arts' "Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2," and Activision's Star Trek StarFleet Command III version 1.0.

Microsoft is rolling out XP SP2 in stages. On August 16, Microsoft is set to begin pushing SP2 to XP users automatically via its Automatic Update and Software Update Services patch-management services. Microsoft already has made the update available to customers who had been beta testing the service pack and to developers. PC makers and retailers are expected to begin offering SP2 this fall.

A CD version (free on request) is supposed to be available "later," but no schedule has been announced. Microsoft does state that this update will "not work properly if your Windows XP is not a legal copy." One assumes that means "registered."

John