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Windows XP SP3 Postponed Until 2008
Rockgod quotes an article saying "With Microsoft now saying that its next major service pack for Windows XP will not ship until 2008, some Windows users are wondering whether the software upgrade will ever be released." and then later "Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, agrees that Microsoft may very well decide to drop XP Service Pack 3. "It absolutely could happen. Microsoft is under no obligation to produce any service packs, ever," he explains. "They feel that because these fixes are available through the auto-update that there's less need to create a service pack."
Thinking as a legal residential user of Windows XP : Service packs aren't needed. With obligatory increases in bandwidth from the large providers to remain competitive with each other, I'm thinking specifically to changes in methods of distribution. Why were there 7 Service Packs Released for NT4? Why were there 4 for W2K? 2 For XP? With more users finding it easier to allow their computer to download updates automatically from the net, reaching a state of updated equilibrium doesn't require service packs. Service packs for Windows are outdated, and cause confusion. The average user doesn't always realize that after the service pack is installed, they still have to use windows update anyways to obtain security hotfixes, signed driver updates, etc... So Microsoft, let's just say that windows update should be the only way to go from here on (if your not already using yum or apt-get).
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