Well... Microsoft has woken up at the sound of Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 1 and managed to confirm the release. On December 18th, the Redmond company made available for download the first public beta of XP SP3. SP3 is with little doubt the third and final service pack for Windows XP, as it is unlikely for Microsoft to continue refreshing the operating system that is scheduled for mainstream support expiration, in 2009. Having been postponed several times, from 2006 all the way to the first half of 2008, there is a consistent amount of interest focused on XP SP3.

The interest is fueled not only by the constant game that Microsoft has been playing with XP SP3, joggling the service pack from one year to the next, but is also driven by the vast majority of Windows users. According to data from Net Applications, Windows XP accounts for approximately 80% of the install base for Windows, while Windows Vista is still under the 10% milestone. This is perhaps the reason why Microsoft released XP SP3 RC Build 3264 under the counter. The release Candidate was silently made available on the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Connect, with little word from the Redmond company. Yet another example of Microsoft pushing Windows Vista to the foreground.

"Today [December 18th], Windows XP SP3 RC was made available to the public via the Microsoft Download Center. While Windows Vista provides the most advanced security and management capabilities of any Windows Operating System, Windows XP SP3 will ensure PCs running Windows XP will have the latest set of updates, as well as compatibility with the Network Access Protection functionality of Windows Server 2008", reads the official confirmation of the availability of XP SP3 RC, as cited by Mary Jo Foley. "That said, Windows XP SP3 does not bring significant portions of Windows Vista functionality to Windows XP. As this is a release candidate, we strongly encourage only those who are comfortable installing pre-release code to download Windows XP SP3."