14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has issued an official confirmation revealing that it has indeed shipped the third Service Pack for Windows XP to an extended number of testers. However, it seems that users are continuing to access the preview build and not the full beta. While there is still no word from the Redmond company as when it plans to ship a public beta of Windows XP SP3, crumbs of the next refresh for the operating system have been made available to the testers involved in the beta programs for Windows Vista Service Pack 1, and the development milestones of Windows Server 2008. In fact, Microsoft has extended the beta program of XP SP3 to all Vista SP 1 and Windows Server 2008 testers.
At the end of September 2007, the Redmond company made available Windows Vista SP1 Beta to some 12,000 testers via Microsoft Connect, while concomitantly moving into the first Release Candidate stage for Windows Server 2008. As initially, in mid July, Microsoft synchronized the pre-beta releases of Vista SP1 and XP SP3, the full beta for the third Service Pack of XP was expected to also drop by the end of September. This is apparently not the case. And it seems that the Windows XP SP3 Beta extended program is offering nothing more than the July pre-beta version.
"As is standard practice for operating systems nearing the end of their sales period, Microsoft will be releasing a final Service Pack for Windows XP in the first half of 2008. Microsoft is pleased to announce the availability of Windows XP Service Pack 3 Beta Preview, to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 beta testers," Microsoft stated in the email it sent to Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 testers, as cited by Mary Jo Foley.
Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 Beta testers have been permitted access to the old Windows XP Service Pack 3 Beta build 3180 from July. The download can be accessed via Microsoft Connect, and Microsoft has failed until this time to inform when or if the refresh will be delivered to MSDN and TechNet subscribers.
"Please obtain the update package for Windows XP SP3 Beta Preview in English, German or Japanese, as well as Release Notes. You can use your current bug logging tools to file bugs; we request that you preface bugs with [XPSP3] in the title. We are interested in all feedback on Windows XP SP3. We are especially interested in scenarios involving communication between Windows XP Service Pack 3 machines and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2008 machines", Microsoft added.