In a Christmas surprise, Microsoft have just unveiled the release candidate of XP SP3.

This may come as a surprise to many considering everyone thought that Microsoft were now concentrating on Vista instead and would only be releasing security patches and hotfixes for XP. It just shows how big the XP userbase is and how few have migrated to Vista so far.

The release candidate is available for everyone, but weighs in at about 336MB, and is available from the XP download centre, here. Although the final version that will be available next year (in the spring) through Windows Update and is rumoured to be a much smaller 70MB download.

If you are interested in seeing what is included within XP SP3 then have a look here. The PDF outlines included existing features from existing updates, as well as new features added.
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Just read the pdf. Most of the "New" stuff has already been available on Windoze Update. Sounds like a load of bollocks to me.
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Me too. I' not going to be updating to SP3 even when it's officially released next year.

Now, had they done the decent thing and bunged DirectX10 into the mix then that would have been a whole different matter! But then what would anyone have bought Vista for? Exactly! The only reason to buy it is for DX10 support. It doesn't matter how many shiny windows and bells and whistles you bold onto the OS. For most things XP is still just as good.
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I thought we might get it! I ran belarc a cpl of weeks ago on my laptop and it said some of the hotfixes where SP3

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Is SP3 going to require Geninue Windows Verification? Not that it would be any problem of course
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Yes it will. According to the info it will work in the same way as SP2. It won't ask you for a product key to download or install SP3, but once installed it will then pester you with the very annoying Genuine Windows Advantage messages and taskbar icon.
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I use a windows validation key by etH0 to pass the genuine verification.
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Interesting. And it works? I hadn't found a way myself. Although my main system is running a legal copy anyway! It's just the others that are not.
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Works fine, after the update you run the installer, reboot, and your windows copy is legal again
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Ah! So it just lets you install the service packs? It doesn't let you get into the genuine advantage Windows downloads? So you don't have access to IE7 etc?
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