Computer Blogging

Note: This is only an overview of the XP service pack 3. The actual official date to be released on the web is April 29th, 2008.

It would appear that XP SP3 is available via the Windows website. Maybe I missed reports of this over the weekend but I had not seen this before.

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.

Here is a link. Posting of this link is not a recommendation to use this software. Once I have it installed I can then make a post. But I will wait a few more days to test.

Windows Vista SP1 was made available to Windows Vista users via the Windows Update site today. This group of updates, which includes all updates released for the OS since its debut in February 2007, is now available.

I have not yet tested it, but reports on the web seem to imply that the dramatic performance updates that Microsoft promised from this updates do not seem to be there.

Have you had a chance to try Vista SP1? What kind of early results have you seen.

Do you have a habit of going to many of the same sites all of the time. Check out a new website that I found recently called Protopage. It is a page that lets you easily create shortcuts to many of your favorite sites and it will pull in a feed from the pages you enter so you can see at a quick glance what has been updated and what hasn’t. If you have not visited it before, give it a look. It may come in handy for you, I know if has for me.

Original sources reported a release date of March 18th, others were just incline to say mid-march. Of course as with XP SP3, Sweden is in the second wave and as I have not found or looked for with intensity RC versions in Swedish, I will just have to wait for the official release.

This is what ChannelWeb reported:

Much to the continued confusion and chagrin of users, Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) has again postponed the release of Windows Vista Service Pack One for some users, citing snafus with language packs that fail to appear on Windows Vista Ultimate. The release had been slated for mid-March.

“We will be releasing Windows Vista SP1 in two waves,” wrote Nick White, a Vista product manager, in a Microsoft blog posting on Monday. “The first wave will only provide Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista Ultimate PCs running the following five languages: English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.” The second wave will follow shortly after, supporting all 36 languages, White said.

More here.

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 7 is right on track for release in 2010. Concomitantly with the leaked details associated with Windows 7 Milestone 1 dropped by the Redmond company to select partners in January 2008, a potential timetable for the availability of the successor of Windows Vista was also made public. According to the leaked information on the next iteration of the Windows platform, having just reached M1, the final version of Windows 7 was to be wrapped up the end of 2009.

Read more/link to full article  in our Support Forums.