(TheForceField.Net ) December 19, 2007 — Microsoft announced it would release a Release Candidate for Windows XP Service Pack 3 for download to the public on its web site. The company listed the publish date of the Release Candidate as yesterday.
The final version of the Service Pack is scheduled for release during the first half of 2008. A Computerworld article published this morning quoted a Microsoft company spokeswoman who was not identified as saying that the RC would be available from the Microsoft Download Center . She also warned general users against installing the Release Candidate. "As this is a release candidate, we strongly encourage only those who are comfortable installing prerelease code to download Windows XP SP3," the spokeswoman said.
Windows XP is considered by many as a competitor to Windows Vista, which has had slow adoption and a lackluster response from consumers and business in general. Microsoft has tried to minimize the influence of Windows XP in order to boost sales of Vista.
The spokeswoman stated the Release Candidate does not contain major changes to the operating system. "Windows XP SP3 does not bring significant portions of Windows Vista functionality to Windows XP," she said.
Microsoft indicated that Service Pack 3 will be the last for Windows XP.
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