14 DAY TRIAL // Don't be fooled! There is no Windows Vista Service Pack 1! And there certainly is no Windows XP Service Pack 3! Yes, Microsoft did manage to release Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, at the beginning of this week. But this does not mean that end users are going to see the bits of the gold version of Vista SP1 anytime soon. And when it comes to XP SP3, Microsoft's third and last service pack for Windows XP has gone completely missing in action.
The last sign of life the Redmond company indicated for Windows XP SP3 was the Refresh 2 build for the Release Candidate of the service pack dropped in December 2007. XP SP3 RC Refresh 2 was confirmed to have been made available only to approximately 15,000 testers via Microsoft Connect. The company did not indicate any plans to permit access to the Refresh 2 Build of XP SP3 RC to the public. And outside of the late January version of XP SP3 delivered to the select pool of testers, the service pack has completely disappeared from all radars.
And as Microsoft confirmed the availability of XP SP3 RC Refresh 2, it failed to mention any details about the XP SP3 RC Refresh 1 that has been previously released at the beginning of January. Up until the past month, Microsoft had synchronized the development milestones of Vista SP1, XP SP3 and Windows Server 2008.
In January, both XP SP3 and Vista SP1 moved into the Release Candidate Refresh 2 stages, while Windows Server 2008 evolved into Escrow, the phase before RTM. On February 4, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 were released to manufacturing, and XP SP3 was pushed under the rug.
But at this point in time, Microsoft also discontinued the availability of the Beta versions of Vista SP1. The RTM build of Vista SP1 will initially ship to OEMs, and will go into DVD production. Only in mid-March will Vista SP1 be served to Vista users via Windows Update, Microsoft Update and the Download Center. And only in mid-April will the service pack be dropped via Automatic Updates.
However, if you try to access the beta versions of Vista SP1, you will find that Microsoft has pulled the downloads. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Public Availability Program was available here, and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC - All Language Standalone Package here, on the Microsoft Download Center. Now visitors are greeted by the following message: "we?re sorry, but we were unable to service your request. You may wish to choose from the links below for information about Microsoft products and services." Here and here are the cached pages.
And nothing much more. But the Redmond company has gone one step further and discontinued the download of Vista SP1 betas and Release Candidates from Windows Update. So, even if Vista SP1 has reached RTM, there actually is no Vista SP1. And there also is no XP SP3, with no RTM in sight at this point in time...