Windows XP SP3 has an RTM date! April 18, 2008

–UPDATE–

Here is a timeline:

* RTM (release to manufacturing) Apr – 21st
* OEM Channel Apr – 21st
* Windows Update Apr – 29th
* Download Centre Apr – 29th
* MSDN/Technet Download May – 02nd
* Windows XP SP3 Fulfillment Media May – 19th
* VL Customers via download Jun – 01st
* Automatic Updates Jun – 10th

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Microsoft Corp. will release Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to computer makers and some IT professionals next week, and it will offer it to all users via Windows Update April 29, two weeks from today, according to an internal schedule obtained by the Neowin.net Web site.

Although others had previously pegged SP3’s release to the last half of April, Neowin’s dates are the most specific seen so far.

According to the site, the service pack will debut April 21, when it’s shipped to computer manufacturers, offered to volume licensing customers and posted for download on TechNet and the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), which are subscription services for IT staff and developers, respectively.

Most users, however, will first be able to obtain SP3 on April 29, when Microsoft lists it on Windows Update (WU) for download.

However, Microsoft won’t turn on the automatic download and installation of SP3 until June 10, according to Neowin. “This delay should give system administrators an ample amount of time to prepare for the upgrade or simply come up with an excuse for when things go awry,” said Neowin.

Company administrators and users have been able to block the automatic distribution of Windows XP SP3, as well as Vista SP1, since December 2007, when Microsoft published the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit.

In a broad way, Neowin’s timeline meshes with the one Microsoft followed when it launched Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in February and March.

Although the company held SP1 for six weeks after RTM, or release to manufacturing, because of balky drivers, it posted the service pack to WU on a Tuesday. It also said it would not push SP1 to users who have WU set to automatically download and install fixes until several more weeks have passed. Vista SP1 also reached OEMs, volume license customers and TechNet and MSDN subscribers before the general public.

Late last month, a Malaysian site that had correctly predicted the RTM date for Vista SP1 as well as that update’s release to WU, said that XP SP3 would arrive in the second half of this month, with a first-wave rollout of the Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish versions.

The last time Microsoft made an XP SP3 move was on March 25, when it posted Windows XP SP3 RC2 Refresh to WU.

As it has previously, Microsoft today again declined to get specific about Windows XP SP3’s delivery date, saying only that it’s slated for the first half of 2008.

CREDIT TO COMPUTERWORLD.COM

Microsoft to cut off XP June 30th!!! April 4, 2008

Microsoft made it official on April 3: There will be no new reprieves for Windows (other than on Ultra Low-Cost PCs).

Some customers and partners had been hoping the company might extend again the deadline for all PC makers to be allowed to preload Windows XP, rather than Windows Vista, on new PCs. But today, Microsoft officials said the current June 30, 2008 cut-off date would remain in place for the vast majority of machines.The one new exception, as some were anticipating, are Ultra Low-Cost PCs (ULPCs), which Microsoft defines as systems like the Asus Eee and Intel Classmate — “significantly more restricted hardware with less expensive processors and more limited graphics capabilities. ULPCs should not be confused with the higher-priced and more robust UMPCs, or Ultra-Mobile PCs (a k a “Origami” devices); Microsoft is continuing to encourage UMPC makers to build their systems around Vista.

As Microsoft officials announced on April 3, makers of ULPCs will be allowed to continue to preload XP on ULPC machines until June 30, 2010, or one year after general availability of the next version of Windows, whichever comes first, according to Microsoft.

(Microsoft has said that its target delivery date for Windows 7, the next version of Windows, is some time in 2010.)

The majority, if not all, ULPCs are not capable of running Vista, with its higher RAM and graphics requirements. But they can and do run Linux. That proved to be a good incentive for Microsoft extending the XP cut-off deadline for those low-end machines.

For plain-vanilla PCs, Microsoft is holding fast to its June 30 preload cut-off for XP. (In September, Microsoft granted PC makers a five-month extension, allowing them to continue preloading and selling at retail Windows XP until June 30 of this year. ) As Microsoft noted previously, users still will be able to get XP preloaded on new machines from white-box vendors/system builders through January 31, 2009. And Vista Business and Ultimate customers with volume-license contracts can still get XP via their “downgrade” rights.

Microsoft will still provide mainstream (free) support for XP until April 2009. Extended support (free for security fixes and paid for other help) ends in 2014.

What’s your take? Did Microsoft make the right decision in holding fast to the June 30 XP cut-off date?

NB: Sourced from http://www.KezNews.com/