With Microsoft completely mute on the third and final service pack for Windows XP, the fact of the matter is that there are some movements on the XP SP3 front, superficial as they might be. Confirmed officially for finalization by mid-2008, XP SP3 fails to have a delivery deadline as of yet, with the Redmond company prolonging the wait. The latest download of Windows XP SP3 was build 5508 Release Candidate 2 in March 2008, and references from Microsoft's official resources on the Windows operating system now point to the existence of Build 5573 for the service pack.

There is absolutely no official information available from Microsoft on Build 5573. I have however contacted representatives of the Redmond company and inquired about the connection between 5573 and the RTM version of XP SP3. When I have something to share be sure that you'll be the first to know. One user spotted the mention of a file version 5.1.2600.5573 related to copies of XP with SP3, the x86 edition. Now 5.1.2600 is actually a reference to Windows XP SP2.

But at the same time, for Windows XP SP2 the hotfix version is 5.1.2600.3344, which is well over Windows XP SP3 Build 3311 RC2. In Microsoft's perspective it could all very well be another misprint just as when the Support Lifecycle page for SP3 announced that the service pack had already been delivered on March 31, 2008. The Redmond company subsequently revealed that the March 31, 2008 general availability date for XP SP3 RTM had been an error and took down the Support Lifecycle webpage.

And if we are on the subject of erroneous dates, Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 Refresh has managed to travel back in time. The availability date was changed to 2/27/2008. At the end of February 2008, Microsoft dropped a public version of XP SP3, namely RC2. Then on March 25, XP SP3 RC2 Refresh was released, and the page revamped. Now, Microsoft claims that XP SP3 RC2 refresh build 5508 was offered starting with February 27, which is incorrect.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 Refresh can be downloaded from here.