Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Beta Distributed
Posted By: Arcane ElitistIt’s no secret that Microsoft is having a hard time not only selling Windows Vista but keeping people using it. For those which find comfort with good old Windows XP and are unable to tolerate Microsoft’s latest Windows installment until its gargantuan sum of bugs have been sorted out, the news that Service Pack 3 is definitely coming and has been distributed to beta testers couldn’t be more welcome. Businesses and individuals still running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 or earlier Windows operating systems atop hardware safe to consider ancient that don’t believe in using “the latest and greatest” or have the money to purchase new Vista-friendly computers that have been waiting for a tested and proven foundation to upgrade won’t have to wait much longer. Save for the Vista enthusiasts, Windows XP Service Pack 3’s debut, scheduled to occur within the first half of 2008 or shortly thereafter, will be exciting, to say the least.
The coming of a new service pack, for a vast variety of reasons, always receives immense attention from the computer savvy. Fears over what will or won’t work and excitement about what may at last work or work more well consume people for months. Then, the service pack is released, forums are flooded with praises, complaints, and advice, and then the dust settles and business as usual resumes. Service packs in general, however, are coming less and less often nowadays.
Windows NT 4.0 concluded at 6a, which was released on November 30, 1999, Windows 2000 received only a fourth service pack on June 26th 2003 and a rollup on June 28, 2005, and Windows XP will fade away having only received three. If this trend continues, perhaps it will become normal for a Microsoft operating system only to receive one service pack in its lifetime, maybe even none.
UPDATE: For more information regarding Windows XP Service Pack 3, please see Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Beta (Build 3205) Details Emerge.
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