Despite the "anodyne" detail that 75% of the world's operating system users are running Windows XP, Microsoft has managed to scrap XP Service Pack 3 under the carpet and artificially diverge focus onto Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008. Since their introduction in beta stage in mid 2007, Vista SP1 and XP SP3 have virtually been joined at the hip right until the Release Candidates Refresh 2 builds. Somewhere along the way, toward the end of 2007, the development milestones of Windows Server 2008 also joined in on the release steps. The synchronization between XP SP3, Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008, seemed to indicate a joined release in early 2008. But XP SP3 was simply left out of the Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 equation.

Or should I say Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1). In fact, I should. Iain McDonald, Director of Project Management for Windows Server, explained that it was Microsoft's intention all along to synchronize the Windows client and server operating systems. But just Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Microsoft has effectively shunned away from XP SP3. At the same time, when Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP1 were released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, the Redmond company only dropped Windows XP SP3 Release Candidate 2 (RC2) to its selected pool of 15,000 testers. But as far as Vista and Widows Server 2008 are concerned, both operating systems are now at Service Pack 1 (SP1) stage.

"This means that the Service Packs are shared, that patches get released at the same time, etc etc. I believe it is incredibly simplified for customers. The other thing is the servicing stack is now smart enough to not download stuff you don't need. This means if you have a Vista system & the service pack has fixes to Active directory, the Vista system does not get the directory update downloaded to them. Vice versa - if there was ever the need for a fix to media player (shock horror, who ever heard of the need to fix security issues there), you don't get it on server unless you install the Desktop Experience pack," McDonald explained.

The reason for this move is rather obvious and for Microsoft it starts with the divergent paths between Windows XP RTM and Windows Server 2003. "The history here goes back to problems we had form the split we had when we broke Windows XP from Windows Server 2003 (WS03) way back in 2000," McDonald stated. Synchronizing XP SP3 with Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP1 in this context is not a course of action that Microsoft even considered. The company simply wanted to avoid the problems associated with the unsynchronized XP and Windows Server 2003. Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP1 will make this possible. And XP SP3 is destined to remain Microsoft's rogue operating system.