PCTips Box

Officially, Windows XP Service Pack 3 RTM is not yet available for download. Unofficially however, the story is a tad different. The third and last service pack for Windows XP has been up for grabs from various sources, more or less legitimate since a few days. And now the final bits of XP SP3 can be accessed straight from Microsoft, even though the Redmond company has failed to jump the gun on the previously announced general availability date: April 29, 2008. But failed only in appearance, as Microsoft has been serving the gold version of XP SP3 through its Windows Update infrastructure since the debut of this week.

The fact is that the Redmond company has debuted the preparations for the general release of Windows XP SP3 scheduled for April 29. In this context, the final bits of the service pack have begun making their way on the WU servers and propagating slowly. (more…)

After over a year since the release of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 in October 2006, and then along with Windows Vista in November 2006 and January 2007, Microsoft has delivered the first beta of its next iteration of Internet Explorer. IE8 Beta 1 is a release aimed at web content developers, but the company has provided full access to the bits, with the promise that Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 will be more user-centric.

IE8 Beta 1 integrates seamlessly with Windows Vista Gold and SP1 RTM, but also with Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows XP SP2 and SP3. With the exception of Windows XP SP3, IE8 Beta 1 will support both the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions of the operating systems enumerated above. Of course, XP SP3 only comes in x86 and not in a x64 variant. At this time, Microsoft offers XP SP3 RC2, with IE8 Beta 1 installing on the beta of the third and final service pack for XP even though it fails to do the same with pre-release versions of Windows Vista SP1. (more…)

Holding your breath while waiting for the final version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 won’t do you any good. In fact, you can go ahead and exhale now, because Microsoft is by no means in any hurry to make available the third and final service pack for Windows XP. However, the Redmond company is indeed hammering away at XP SP3, having released a new build of the service pack. While the gold bits of XP SP3 have failed to take a consistent contour on the immediate horizon, although it seemed that Windows Vista SP1 RTM would be synonymous with the releasing to manufacturing of the third service pack for XP, Microsoft confirmed a new development milestone. (more…)

Microsoft resources focused almost exclusively on wrapping up the Windows Vista client, and then delayed yet again into 2008, with the deadline set by the summer of this year, Windows XP Service Pack 3 is long overdue, and at the same time in its final stages of development. At the end of December 2007, the Redmond company opened up the testing process of XP SP3 and made available for download a public Release Candidate. The Standalone Update Package for Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate weighs in at just 336.1 MB and was dropped via the Microsoft Download Center.

Not surprisingly, although it was mute for the most part of 2007 on both Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3, the Redmond company is favoring, in terms of information disclosure, its latest Windows client. Starting at the end of 2007, Microsoft managed to become extremely chatty about Vista SP1. Not so much about XP SP3. The reason is of course understandable. Vista, made available but a year ago, is pushed to the foreground, with XP left to eXPire in the background. (more…)

Will the third and final service pack for Windows XP manage to breath new life into the operating system? Will users and original equipment manufacturers be able to apply enough pressure on Microsoft to keep Windows XP alive? There is even an online petition available to save Windows XP. Anything but to move to Windows Vista. Yes, by all means. Save Windows XP. But from what? Is XP even in need of saving?

Last I checked, Windows XP still accounts for the lion’s share of the operating system market. All other platforms, including Windows Vista, don’t even manage to come close to it. And growing on the operating system market means actually eroding XP’s audience, because there is little elbow room with this ubiquitous platform having dug its roots in deep starting back in 2001. According to Net Applications, XP is credited with 76.91%, while after almost a year since it hit the shelves, Vista has only gone as high as 10.48%. By comparison Mac OS X has a share of 7.31% and all the Linux distributions just 0.63%. (more…)