Weeks after it announced that the life of Windows XP will be extended for another two years, it appears that Microsoft will make Windows XP SP3 available to OEMs, Volume License Customers, Windows Connect users and MSDNT/TechNet subscribers on April 21. 

Other Windows XP users will have to wait until April 29 to access the SP3 through the usual Windows Updates or through Microsoft’s Download Center, according to  Neowin.

If you remember, Microsoft released the beta of the SP3 sometime in August 2007 and even issued a Release Candidate in December. Earlier this year, SP3 RC2 was released as well. Those preliminary versions of the SP3 have around 1,100 hotfixes and patches including new activation procedure, Network Access Protection Module, Black Hole Router Detection and Microsoft’s Kernel Mode Cryptographics Module.

Windows XP SP3 is a much needed release as more low-cost laptops have been coming out with Windows XP as their OS. Windows XP’s aging features need a boost to make it more attune with these new low-cost notebooks.

---

Related posts:

Microsoft to release Vista successor sooner than planned?

Microsoft to continue supporting Windows XP if users will say so

Symantec says business community still prefers Windows XP over Vista

Microsoft hunts down illegal hacks through automatic update

64-bit Vista users accidentally get a taste of SP1 update

Entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 7:47 am under Windows XP. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.