Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 22 April 2008 07:58
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Also odd is Keroack’s reply to a question by Inaam786 as to whether SP3 “has been released for MSDN subscribers”, with the reply being “MSDN/Technet - Not yet. This will be available within the next month.”
Why do MSDN and TechNet subscribers need to wait when the download will be made available from Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center?
Perhaps the MSDN and TechNet updates will contain code to make deployment of the update easier, or perhaps there’s some other reason, but it just seems unnecessary – especially when XP SP3 isn’t going to suffer weeks/months long delays in availability as was the case with Vista SP1 after it went into ‘nominal RTM’ on February 4th.
So, what else did Keroack have to say about XP3, while thanking all those who took part in the public betas?
Keroack’s blost post continues: “Online documentation for Windows XP SP3, such as Microsoft Knowledge Base articles and the Microsoft TechNet Windows XP TechCenter, will be updated then. For customers who use Windows XP at home, Windows XP SP3 Automatic Update distribution for users at home will begin in early summer.”
Keroack then offers his thanks to the public, saying: “Thanks to everyone here who installed the public betas – you not only gave us detailed feedback but also helped each other out with timely troubleshooting. Through the beta program we found several important issues and were able to confirm some essential fixes. We couldn’t have done this without you.”
Which is quite right. Public beta testing has become an incredibly invaluable part of any software development process, and especially important when you are developing an operating system relied upon by millions, even if Microsoft’s EULA disclaims all responsibility for anything.
So, will there be XP SP3 update horror stories, as always seems the case with just about any update from anyone, these days? Please read onto page 3.
