14 DAY TRIAL // It’s official, Windows XP is now a decade old operating system. Microsoft released Windows XP to manufacturing on August 24th, 2001, exactly 10 years ago today. The platform just turned 10 continues to be the king of the operating system market, has seen its territory eroded drastically by Windows 7, after it survived Windows Vista almost intact.
RTM, as some users already know, is a milestone in the development of Microsoft software products, with the Redmond company shipping the code to manufacturers after it goes gold.
In this regard, RTM is not the same as general availability. The software giant only launched XP commercially on October 25th, 2001, some 8 years ahead of the advent of Windows 7.
Windows XP was off to an not all that excellent start, but Microsoft released Service Pack 1 and subsequently SP2, for which it deterred resources away from the Longhorn project, effectively dooming Vista.
It was SP2 that contributed to making XP the dominant platform on the OS market, and the reason why this operating system is still top dog even today, 10 years after it was finalized.
According to statistics from Net Applications, XP still accounts for an usage share of 49.69% as of the end of July 2011, but Windows 7 is closing in rapidly, being used by some 27.92% of customers tracked by the Internet metrics company.
Support for Windows XP will be discontinued entirely in April 2014, and Microsoft is not planning any additional upgrades after the release of Service Pack 3 (SP3).
The software giant is currently focusing its development efforts on building Windows 8, the next generation of the Windows client, a release which the company is comparing to that of Windows 95, impact-wise.
Microsoft has started opening up on Windows 8 since mid-2011, but will deliver full details about the operating system at the BUILD conference in September.
Windows XP Service Pack 3 stand-alone version is available for download here.
Windows XP Service Pack 3 Checked Build Network Installation Package is available for download here.
Windows XP Service Pack 3 CD Image is available for download here.