14 DAY TRIAL // Windows XP Service Pack 3 is here, according to Microsoft. The wait for the third and final service pack for Windows XP is now over, reveal resources made available by the Redmond company. And the fact of the matter is that not only is Windows XP SP3 here, but it has been here for quite some time. For no less than a couple of days. While there is absolutely no official word on the matter from Microsoft, the company's official Support Lifecycle website offering information on its various products has managed to leak the small bit of info pointing to the delivery deadline of XP SP3. Nothing more and nothing less than the general availability date.
Even though there is no official sign from Microsoft related to the deadline when the service pack is planned to be released to manufacturing, this Microsoft Support Lifecycle web page claims that the RTM of XP SP3 has already occurred (courtesy of Neowin). Additionally, the General Availability Date of XP SP3 RTM is March 31, 2008. Now, the truth is that XP SP3 is not available. But not available yet! This does not mean that the Redmond company has not indeed RTM'd the service pack and that it was preparing to make it available as of March 31.
I have contacted Microsoft on this matter and as soon as I hear back from them I'll provide an update. As March 31 has obviously passed without Microsoft dropping XP SP3, the company is most likely to claim that the General Availability Date is an error that will be corrected. Still, there is movement on the Windows XP SP3 front even if the RTM build is a tad lazy to the finish line.
On April 1, 2008, Microsoft has re-released the Windows XP Service Pack 3 Overview. The last time the Redmond company published a fresh copy of the overview documentation for the service pack it also delivered XP SP3 RC2 Refresh build 5508. Now, from the signals that I'm getting the wait for the gold bits of XP SP3 is getting shorter and shorter...
