Download the Official Windows XP SP3 Overview

The official overview of Windows XP Service Pack 3 is available for download straight from Microsoft. While the Redmond company has been synchronizing the development milestones for Windows Vista SP1: Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn; and Windows XP SP3, the third and final service pack for Vista's predecessor, was slipped into the background. In Microsoft's perspective, Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 can be nowhere than at the center-stages of the upcoming releases for the first quarter of the next year. Planned by mid 2008, XP SP3, although long overdue and heading for approximately 80% of the operating system market, is not on Microsoft's priorities list.
With the Release Candidates of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 heading to increased testing pools the past week, and with Microsoft cooking the first public build of the first refresh for its latest Windows client, the official overview for XP SP3 is the only crumb from the service pack fiesta over at the Redmond company. The Release Candidate of XP SP3 in a pre-final stage has already shipped to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. With Vista SP1 RC going public any day now, a similar release of XP SP3 is not far behind. The overview for XP SP3 has recently been made available, but Microsoft refreshed its availability as of December 10.