Windows XP SP3 is released
22 Apr 2008 | 15:50 BST
Vista beater gets better
WINDOWS XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) was released to manufacturing by Microsoft yesterday.
According to a TechNet posting by Windows XP SP3 Release Manager Chris Keroack, Microsoft will shortly make Windows XP SP3 available to its OEM and Enterprise customers.
He says that it will be available via Windows Update and Download Center on April 29th, but release via Automatic Update won't occur until early summer.
The Vole has had a notably easier time preparing SP3 for XP than it stumbled through trying to get out SP1 for Vista. That's due in some part to Windows XP being a more mature operating system, undoubtedly.
However, Windows XP is a much more stable and mature code base, in that it actually has had working software drivers for virtually all current PC devices and peripherals for some time and doesn't incorporate a bunch of ill-designed and haphazardly implemented digital restriction scams and security schemes.
So good news for all Windows XP users then. They might be stuck in the past, still running a Microsoft OS, but at least they're not completely daft, and now they've got a new service pack that should improve their prospects of keeping Windows XP working fairly well for them, and Vista at bay, for at least another year or two.
Microsoft's announcement is here. µ
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