Microsoft Delays Windows XP SP3 to Late 2007

WindowsITPro.com ^ | January 17, 2005 | Paul Thurrott

[HAL9000]

Without any warning or even an official announcement, Microsoft has quietly pushed back the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to late 2007. This new schedule places the release at least a year later than the previous schedule, under which SP3 would ship sometime in 2006. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer previously announced that his company would ship SP3 "before" Windows Vista, which is now due in late 2006.

Microsoft's new schedule for SP3 was revealed in a service pack roadmap that the company posted to the Web late last month. According to this document, Windows XP SP3 will ship in the second half of 2007. It's unclear whether SP3 will now include new features. Originally, Microsoft said that SP3 would only include a collection of previously-released bug and security fixes. [Windows Server 2003 SP2 is still on track for the second half of 2006.]

Sources at Microsoft told me that the delays are related to the company focusing all of its efforts at getting Windows Vista out the door. Vista is another product that has suffered innumerable delays: The company once expected to ship Vista in 2003.

This isn't the first time Microsoft has delayed a Windows XP service pack, though this new delay is the longest yet. XP SP2 was originally due in 2003, but was delayed to 2004 when Microsoft decided to halt Windows development during a security code review. That event delayed both XP SP2 and Windows Vista, which then went by the codename Longhorn.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Reading whiny complaints like yours always makes me think, "Bet that guy wishes he knew something about computers."

[big'ol_freeper]

And you would be completely ignorant, as one would expect from a Microsoft kookaid drinker. Thanks for the straw man anyways.

[djf]

Trouble is, though, some of the content providors and subscription services might require it.
Napster requires either Win2K or XP.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Trouble is, though, some of the content providors and subscription services might require it.

Not initially they won't. I'm sure there'll be phase-in period of a couple years of some sort. There are some services that will download to Win98 as the minimum requirements.

If the providers do demand that the minimum has to be a Windows Vista, then they're shooting themselves in the foot, because nobody isn't going to spend $300 bucks for a new or upgrade Vista OS unless they flat out buy a new computer that has it already.