Stand alone SP2.

Thanks for the update..thanks..

this is beta or wht??

This is just a documentation.

I`m still confuse about SP3 updates, is it an official release?

RC1 is still not the full release. Wait till RTM

A little info for you guys, taken from PCAdvisor magazine Feb 2008.

The last-ever major update to Windows XP - XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) - provides a "measurable boost" to the ageing operating sytem. SP3 is due for release during the first half of 2008, and testing firm Devil Mountain Software said users can look forward to increase speeds - particularly in Microsoft Office applications. The company ran the OfficeBench suite of performance benchmarks on a laptop equipped with Office 2007. The system featured a 2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 1GB of memory. Devil Mountain showed a 10% speed increase under XP SP3 when compared to SP2, the service pack release for Windows XP in 2004.

"Since SP3 was supposed to be mostly a bug-fix/patch consolidation release, the unexpected speed boost comes as a nice bonus," saod Criag Barth, Devil Mountain's chief technology officer. "In fact, XP SP3 is shaping up to be a 'myst have' update for the majority of users still running Redmond's not-so-latest and greatest OS."

XP SP3 has already been released to around 15,000 testers. However, despite Microsoft's indication that the update will arrive in the first six months of 2008, the company is not giving a specific date for its release and concedes that not even the half-year window is set in stone.

Microsoft will, at some point, offer a beta of XP's final najor update to anyone who wants it. That timetable, however, was as iffy as the final release's, with availability set on as "a later date".

WOW SPEED BOOST, official release date is when? any pic of the windows? hehe SP2 user here wanna try SP3

wow.. cool.. hope it don`t consume large amount of HDD space..

just update my system to SP3...it's more responsive...especially IE7

wonder gt free shipping as last time where SP1 upgrade SP2 gt free Windows Upgrade CD!!?

no need CD la..LOL..just download..easy..LOL

Wondering about this Vista SP1. Does this mean the vista users are using now is not even SP1? How can I can get the SP1?

Currently Vista Service Pack 1 is just a release candidate.

What is Release Candidate?

Download Vista SP1 RC

What's the different between RC and General Release?

Does the RC works for a long time or just temporarily?

SP's won't slow down your system - its just a batch of updates packed together. doesn't look like there's anything interesting in terms of functionality, more of compatibility this time round.

it probably would be the final SP released by microsoft for XP. and yes, it should be free - as was its previous SP2.

This post has been edited by blu3chip: Jan 29 2008, 11:55 AM

It's just a test run. 99% of what you see in it will be in the final product, but it won't be sanctioned more than the allocated time frame that microsoft gives you. Thus if you have any problem with RC after General Release is done, they have the rights to ignore you, altho that's rare