Microsoft announced today that Windows XP Service Pack 3 is complete and has been released to manufacturing. By April 29, Microsoft expects XP SP3 to be available online via Windows Update.
Automatic Updates will begin delivering SP3 to computers in about two months (ie, early summer’ according to the TechNet post where Microsoft made the announcement.)
Since XP SP3 is a collection of previously-released updates, you won’t notice many changes after installing it. However, collecting the updates into one service pack makes it easier to setup new XP systems.
Today we are happy to announce that Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) has released to manufacturing (RTM). Windows XP SP3 bits are now working their way through our manufacturing channels to be available to OEM and Enterprise customers.
We are also in the final stages of preparing for release to the web (i.e. you!) on April 29th, via Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center. Online documentation for Windows XP SP3, such as Microsoft Knowledge Base articles and the Microsoft TechNet Windows XP TechCenter, will be updated then. For customers who use Windows XP at home, Windows XP SP3 Automatic Update distribution for users at home will begin in early summer.
Thanks to everyone here who installed the public betas – you not only gave us detailed feedback but also helped each other out with timely troubleshooting. Through the beta program we found several important issues and were able to confirm some essential fixes. We couldn’t have done this without you.
We will still be monitoring this forum during the next few weeks in case you have more feedback about the release of Windows XP SP3.
On behalf of myself, Shashank Bansal and Windows Serviceability, many thanks.
Chris Keroack
Release Manager, Windows XP Service Pack 3
Windows Serviceability
Source:
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3214173&SiteID=17
