Despite signs pointing to the contrary, the Windows XP Service Pack 3 saga has by no means reached an end. According to the official resources available on the Microsoft Support Lifecycle webpage dealing with the third and final service pack for Windows XP, SP3 was launched at the end of March, 2008. The General Availability Date of Windows XP Service Pack 3 is in fact set as March 31, 2008. At the same time, Microsoft simply forgot to mention the fact that it had already wrapped up XP SP3, but also to make the gold bits available for end users.

Apparently, there is a good reason for this. I have contacted Microsoft on the matter and asked them to confirm that Windows XP SP3 had been already released to manufacturing as well as the March 31 General Availability Date. According to the Redmond company this is not the case. The delivery date for Windows XP SP3 was not March 31, 2008, and the service pack has not been released to manufacturing as of yet.

"The March 31st date you saw for Windows XP SP3 RTM on Microsoft.com is incorrect. The final version of Windows XP SP3 is still on target to be released the first half of calendar year 2008," a Microsoft spokesperson revealed in an email to Softpedia.

At this point in time, the Microsoft Support Lifecycle webpage with the incorrect March 31, 2008 general availability date for Windows XP SP3 is still up. Obviously, Microsoft is playing the typo approach as it has done in the past to explain bits of information that simply do not fit into the general picture. But it also is just as obvious that XP users can only get their hands on XP SP3 Release Candidate 2 refresh build 5508 complemented by the re-released Windows XP Service Pack 3 Overview documentation. My best guess is that Microsoft did advance with the evolution of XP SP3 on March 31, but the company is mute on the matter. And the reality is that there is no Windows XP SP3 RTM. At least not yet.

Windows XP SP3 RC2 Refresh build 5508 is available for download here.