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Windows XP Service Pack 3 Not Due Until 2007

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the thats-ok-no-new-viruses-are-scheduled-in-07 dept.

vitaly.friedman writes "Microsoft has published the due date for Windows XP SP3 (Service Pack 3) on its Windows Lifecycle Web site. The preliminary due date (the latter half of 2007) for the next collection of fixes and patches for Microsoft's desktop operating system is as more than a year later than many company watchers were expecting."

7 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. XP SP-3 in 2007 by thriemus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I read that and I wasnt one bit suprised in the least.

    Somethings wrong...

    --
    - Sig
  2. Not that big of a deal. by gasmonso · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This shouldn't surprise anyone. MS wants Vista to be out before any major patch to XP. Its in their best interest as it compels more people to upgrade to Vista. XP will be treated like a red-headed step child so Vista will look more appealing. So long as they issue security patches I'll be happy. It's what I've come to expect.

    http://religiousfreaks.com/
  3. Interesting... by EvilMonkeySlayer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Has anyone else noticed Microsofts gradual decrease in providing updates?
    For example, NT 4 had 6 service packs and number 7 was not released. But supposedly was pretty much complete, number 7 added a bunch of features that were supposedly in Windows 2000.. and with the release of Windows 2000 just around the corner.. why would they want to make 2000 less appealing?

    Also, notice that 2000 has just 4 service packs..

    And it's looking more like XP will be getting just 3 by the end of life period, now... either Microsoft have absolutely amazing QA which means they're fixing all the bugs in their OS's by the last service pack or they want to force people onto their newest OS with the promises of bug fixes etc.

    This is disheartening, they're trying to force people into a perpetual upgrade cycle and are being very successful at it too. I guess we can only hope that stuff like Linux and OpenOffice start making some inroads to at least reduce the price of Windows to help reduce the pressure on people who are locked into MS solutions.

    1. Re:Interesting... by kawika · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Corporate America told Microsoft that they didn't like service packs because they required a lot of IT effort to roll out across the organization. As it stands, any true security patch needs to be installed ASAP, so anything in a service pack is probably something most IT departments would prefer to avoid unless it scratches their itch.

      Microsoft has been listening to big companies; they created "patch Tuesday" as a way to reduce the pain for corporate IT departments. Think about it, why wouldn't MS release the patch ASAP for consumers? In fact, that would be better for MS debugging because it would be easier for MS to tell if a particular patch caused problems. As it is, they're all clumped together each month.

      If nobody in particular is clamoring for an update, Microsoft will oblige them by not issuing one.

    2. Re:Interesting... by misleb · · Score: 4, Insightful

      To be fair to Windows (ha!), I have found that the useful life of a Linux installation is a lot shorter than Windows. I would never consider installing a Linux distribution from 2000, but Win2k isn't all that bad (as Windows goes) even 6 years later.

      Of course, distributions such as Debian make up for this in being very easy (and cheap!) to upgrade to the latest version, but still. I've run into situations where I really want to upgrade a Debian system but fear breaking something. Eventually I just bite the bullet and do it. Things usually work out pretty well, but if it were Windows, I would be able to upgrade individual programs without worrying about support from the underlying OS because most programs work on all Windows platforms going back to NT 4.0.

      Just something to keep in mind next time you lament the Windows upgrade cycle...

      -matthew

      --
      "THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
  4. why is that silly? by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They put out service packs for 2000 after XP came out..

    Or NT after 2000 came out.

    While the product is still under 'support', you can expect fixes to come out. Support doesnt end on day 1 of the release of a new version, in the real world.

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    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  5. Re:Wrong, it's already out. by GoatPigSheep · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Too bad that update requires an expensive proprietary hardware dongle.

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    GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups