This content is 19 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.
I heard a rumour yesterday that Windows XP service pack 3 (SP3) will be released soon. I haven’t been able to substantiate it yet, but it does sound plausible.
It’s been over a year since SP2 was released and, because it was such a massive update, many organisations still haven’t adopted it because they are worried about the impact that the new security features will have on their infrastructure.
I guess because we’ve heard so little about SP3, when it arrives we can expect it to consist basically of a rollup of hotfixes since SP2, plus SP2 itself; but its arrival will mean is that, based on the Microsoft support lifecycle, SP1 will effectively be out of support. Now’s the time to think seriously about SP2/3 adoption!
Sometimes the rumours I hear are accurate. Sometimes they are not. On this occasion, the rumour was not accurate and Paul Thurrott (who usually is much better connected than I am in these things) reported in a recent Windows IT Pro magazine network WinInfo Daily Update that whilst there will be a Windows XP SP3 and a Windows Server 2003 SP2 (it will be interesting to see how that fits in alongside Windows Server 2003 R2), XP SP3 isn’t expected to be here until next year.
Now Microsoft are saying that XP SP3 won’t be here until the second half of 2007.