[Major Payne]

The release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 3 is now available at Microsoft's download site.

The move marks the first opportunity for all users of the six-year-old operating system to try out its final upgrade. Previously, several thousand users were given access to test builds of SP3 only by Microsoft's invitation.

According to a company spokeswoman, Windows XP SP3 RC (release candidate) will be available only from the Microsoft Download Center. Unlike Vista SP1, which debuted last week, XP SP3 will not be soon added to Windows Update. In fact, the spokeswoman seemed to say SP3 wouldn't be offered to users via Microsoft's update service before the service pack is finished next year.

"XP SP3 2ill be added to WU [Windows Update] in 1H '08," she said in an e-mail late Tuesday.

The download weighed in at about 336MB, but when SP3 is offered through Windows Update, the installation file will be much smaller -- around 70MB.

Even though the release candidate can be installed by anyone running XP SP2, Microsoft warned off casual users from trying the preview. "As this is a release candidate, we strongly encourage only those who are comfortable installing pre-release code to download Windows XP SP3," said the spokeswoman.

The spokeswoman also confirmed that the final version of Windows XP SP3 remains slated for delivery in the first half of 2008.

More...

Thinking about it. Probably will pass for now.

Ron

Edited by Major Payne, 26 December 2007 - 05:59 PM.

[Advertisements]

I have it installed. It works good. You don't notice anything

[Tal]

I have it installed. It works good. You don't notice anything

[Major Payne]

Brave man! You haven't noticed any Win XP improvements/changes? If you haven't, it's a waste of time installing it.

Ron

[Tal]

Ah well, some people say it speeds up Office 2007. I could have swore that I've noticed some improvement, but I think it's something psychic!

Not any visible improvements or changes, but MS say they improved stuff.

[Major Payne]

That's just the problem. M$ says a lot of things which are out and out lies as been proven by other sources. Guess I'll wait until someone runs some benchmark tests with the new SP3.

Ron

Changed SP1 to SP3. Seems I can't keep track of my own topic.

Edited by Major Payne, 29 December 2007 - 08:56 PM.

[**Brian**]

That's just the problem. M$ says a lot of things which are out and out lies as been proven by other sources. Guess I'll wait until someone runs some benchmark tests with the new SP1.

Ron

Ron:

That is exactly why I will wait until the bugs, if any, are out of the Service Pack Requiring users to upgrade to least SP2 is a good idea, and is required now for all of the updates for XP - However, just because M$ comes out with a service pack does not mean that I will go right over there and install it - Only way I would do that is if I had a machine that I could easily format and reinstall if there was a problem - MS has done good things, but 99.9% of the time, in my estimation, they have to update the service pack because of problems that they find as it is being tested

I'll wait until it is added to WU and that way, hopefully problems that they find will be resolved

What does it mean when they say:

"XP SP3 2ill be added to WU [Windows Update] in 1H '08"

Brian

[sandman01086]

i'm confused... do i actually need to do anything now, or wait until next year?

[Tal]

Just wait until it's released to Windows Update

[M477h3w700142y]

Just wait until it's released to Windows Update

Thats what I'm going to do.

[Major Payne]

What does it mean when they say:

"XP SP3 2ill be added to WU [Windows Update] in 1H '08"

Brian

Good question. Wondered that myself. I understand the added to Win Update part, but the rest?

Ron

[frantique]

1H '08

First half of 2008?

[Major Payne]

That's what I thought and seems to fit just right. I'll go with it.

Ron

[james_8970]

Yeah,
1H 2008 = First half of 2008
Just like
3Q 2008 = Third quarter of 2008

Originally this was used to divide a year into terms for performance and financial outlook on a given company. However it has grown and is used for releases of hardware/software and many other things now.

James