Feature Comparison: XP SP3 Professional vs. Vista SP1
Call it a sign of desperation, a new attempt to blow some wind in the sails of its latest platform, or a reaction to the proverbial last drop, but Microsoft is delivering its own perspective in terms of the comparison between its two Windows clients sharing the vast majority of the operating system market. Just ahead of the availability cut-off date for Windows XP through the OEM and retail channels, the Redmond company has “come out gunning” in a move designed to settle once and for good the XP vs. Vista face-off.
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22.5.2008 Hardening Windows XP Professional
Windows XP has considerably more functionality than Windows 2000. With this functionality come more services and more potential security holes. Some of the measures undertaken by IST to reduce the risk are outlined in the extracts below. These are the security-related sections IST follows when building a Windows XP image for distribution within Academic Support.
NOTE: Most of these changes require you to sign on as an administrator.
The first and most important change to be applied is to set a password on all user accounts. Next it is very strongly advised that you do not log on with an administrative account but rather a ?User? or ?Power User? account.
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Microsoft to Kill Pirated Windows XP Professional
Having dealt with the SoftMod Windows Vista activation crack, Microsoft will start hunting down and “killing” pirated copies of Windows XP Professional, the flavor of the operating system labeled by the company as most popular with pirates.
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25.3.2009 Dell to Sell Windows XP Professional with PCs Through 2009
In a letter to some of Dells customers, they said that "XP Professional is available for OEM installation on your Dell PC purchases through at least 2009 and likely longer."
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9.6.2008 Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2c Release
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2c has released to manufacturing and will be available to system builders in September 2007.
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10.8.2007 Differences between the XP Home and Professional Edition !
Windows XP is based on Windows NT4 and Windows 2000 technology. Microsoft is positioning the Windows XP Professional Edition to replace Windows NT4 and Windows 2000 Professional. In addition, the Windows XP Home edition will be replacing Windows 95/98/ME.
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How to Downgrade from Windows Vista Business or Ultimate OEM Edition and Install Windows XP Professional
A lot of users still don’t getting used to Windows Vista. A lot of reviews have been labeling Windows Vista as bloated, hard to use, tons of compatibility issues, inconvenient, not user friendly, not stable and etc.
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22.8.2008 It's Time to Face the Ugly Truth, SP3 or No SP3, the Clock Is Ticking for Windows XP
As 2008 has kicked in, it's now time to face the ugly truth. The clock is ticking for Windows XP. And while Microsoft may view this as a natural stage in the evolution of a product introduced all the way in 2001, a healthy proportion of end-users and businesses will fail to see eye to eye with the company on this one.
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5.1.2008 XP SP3 Does Not Support Windows XP
Believe it or not, but Microsoft does not support Windows XP with XP SP3. Well, maybe that's not entire true. But it is true nonetheless. End users will find they they are unable to deploy XP SP3 on top of XP. What is the catch?
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16.1.2008 Vista SP1 RC Leaves XP SP2 in the Dust, but What About XP SP3?
Although Microsoft has indicated a strong disapproval of benchmarking tests involving development milestones of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the temptation is simply too big to ignore.
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17.1.2008 Microsoft Makes Its Own Vista SP1 vs. XP SP2, Leaves XP SP3 Out
Ever since the advent of Window Vista, at the end of November 2006 for businesses and in January 2007 for the general public, Microsoft has virtually invited the comparison between the two operating systems.
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8.5.2008 Microsoft Hands out XP SP3 beta – Final SP for XP
In an email sent to selected testers telling them they have been accepted to begin testing XP SP3, Microsoft has also informed them that this will be the final Service Pack for the now aging OS.
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5.10.2007 The Only Way for Windows XP SP3 Is Down
SP3 will do nothing for XP, but still more than what SP1 will do for Vista - The third and final service pack for Windows XP will do little to nothing for the operating system, but will manage to deliver a superior boost to the platform's momentum in comparison to Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista.
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12.4.2008 Windows 7 RTM Professional 110-Screenshot Gallery
With Windows 7, Microsoft is no longer referring to the business edition of the platform as, well, Business.
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13.9.2009 Windows XP SP3 Preview No. 5
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11.2.2006 Windows XP SP3 On The Horizon
According to Microsoft press release about Unified Access Control and Network Access Protection, Windows XP service pack 3 (SP3) is in development and will be released later this year.
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24.5.2007 Windows XP SP3 Available for Download!
In two weeks too :) Microsoft confirmed officially that Windows XP Service Pack 3 will be made available for download in the next couple of weeks.
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29.8.2007 Windows XP Closes In on SP3
Microsoft's most successful operating system, ever, has inched closer to Service Pack 3. Release Candidate 1 is now available from MSDN and—so I hear—from TechNet. I can only personally confirm MSDN availability.
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4.12.2007 Deploying Windows XP SP3
With a pre-Release Candidate build of Windows XP Service Pack 3 available for download, the imminence of the final version of the refresh is starting to take contour.
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13.12.2007 Will SP3 Save Windows XP?
Will the third and final service pack for Windows XP manage to breath new life into the operating system? Will users and original equipment manufacturers be able to apply enough pressure on Microsoft to keep Windows XP alive?
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15.1.2008 Is Windows XP SP3 just around the corner?
Clues that Microsoft is ready to announce the final version of Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3 are starting to mount.
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20.2.2008 XP SP3: Now on Windows Update
A week after deciding not to release Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3 via Windows Update and the Microsoft Download site as planned, Microsoft has begun pushing the collection of updates and fixes through those channels again.
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6.5.2008 No Future for Windows XP SP3?
Make no mistake about it, June 30, 2008 is the beginning of the end for Windows XP, even with Service Pack 3 available for two months now, since May 6.
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13.6.2008 Windows XP SP3 – And So It Ends
It's the end of an era for Microsoft. Not the end of Windows XP, but the end of the XP era.
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21.6.2008 Windows XP SP3 - No Future
With Windows XP but four days away from the June 30 end-of-sales date, various scenarios are depicting the operating system as already dead.
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26.6.2008 Windows 7 Professional Build 7055 - winmain.090303-2130
Microsoft’s “translucent” and mum communication strategy on the actual development milestones of Windows 7 as the operating system advances in the development process should in no way be considered a mark of inactivity.
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17.3.2009 Cup of IT professional
IT professional in gallery
Windows XP SP3 confirmed by Microsoft
Microsoft has revealed plans to release a third service pack for its Windows XP operating system.
"There will be a Service Pack 3 for Windows XP," Bernard Ourghanlian, technical and security director at Microsoft France, confirmed, revealing that Microsoft's OS is set for another major update.
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Windows XP SP3 Delayed until 2008
As I predicted, another delay and watch when in 2007 they will cancel the SP completely.
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19.10.2006Windows XP SP3 Final Available at MajorGeeks
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.
Supported Operating Systems:
Windows XP; Windows XP Home Edition ; Windows XP Home Edition N; Windows XP Media Center Edition; Windows XP Professional Edition ; Windows XP
Professional N; Windows XP Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 2; Windows XP Starter Edition; Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
winbeta.org -
23.04.2008Expiration dates for Vista SP1 and XP SP3 blocks announced
If you're an IT professional and currently using Microsoft's Service Pack Blocker, the software giant recently announced that the current
blocks for Vista SP1 and XP SP3 are going to expire in a few months. The Service Pack Blocker Tool only temporarily prevents Windows from the
installation of a Service Pack via Windows Update, and the block is only effective for one year after the Service pack is released to the market via
Windows Update. Effective April 28th, 2009, Windows Vista SP1 will no longer be blocked by the tool and will be delivered via Windows Update. The
same goes for Windows XP SP3, but the block will be lifted on May 19th, 2009.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
30.01.2009Despite rumors, Windows XP SP3 still not quite ready
With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 out the door, Microsoft was largely expected to release Windows XP SP3 last week or this week. It didn't, instead
making public a refresh build of SP3 Release Candidate 2...
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26.03.2008Windows XP SP3 moves closer to completion
Beta testers have received access to a release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 3, but general consumers still have a long wait until they'll see
SP3 available for download...
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20.11.2007XP SP3 Still on Schedule for First Half 2008
I've got to admit that I
wouldn't be surprised to see
Microsoft table Service Pack
(SP) 3 for Windows XP, as
Windows expert Paul Thurrott
claims the Redmondians have
done.
"The company has completely
abandoned Windows XP, and it
has absolutely no plans to
ever ship an XP SP3,"
Thurrott posted to his Web
site on April 6. "My guess is
that Microsoft will do what it
did with the final Windows
2000 Service Pack: Claim years
later that it's no longer
needed and just ship a final
security patch roll-up. This
is the worst kiss-off to any
Microsoft product I've ever
seen, and you'd think the
company would show a little
more respect to its
best-selling OS of all time."
Last
fall, Microsoft admitted that
XP SP3 had slipped and was now
a 2008 deliverable. If
Microsoft were to go a step
further and dump XP SP3, such
a move wouldn't be too
shocking, especially given
Redmond's ongoing reticence
to commit to Vista SP1 because
service packs are passe.
Click Read
More to view the rest of
this article.
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14.04.2007Microsoft continues to warn of IE8 lock-in for XP SP3 users
Last year when Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, Jane Maliouta announced that consumers using Windows XP SP3 would be locked-in with the
IE8 if they had installed the IE8 beta prior to upgrading to SP3. Microsoft again yesterday issued that same warning to it's consumers. If you are
still one of the millions of users on Windows XP with SP3 installed, Microsoft has provided crucial steps to follow if you're ready to upgrade to
IE8 RC1. You can obtain IE8 RC1 from the links on this page. To see if you're one of the people who will have IE8 locked in, follow these steps.
Is your computer running Windows XP SP3?
Read full story.....
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27.01.2009Windows XP SP3 Not Until Late
2007
According to an update on
Microsoft's support lifecycle
Web site, the next service
pack for Windows XP isn't due
out until the second half of
2007 -- one full year after
Windows Vista launches. XP SP3
will likely serve as a
cumulative update for what
will soon become Microsoft's
legacy operating system...
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18.01.2006New Features Discovered in Windows XP SP3: Is It Better Than Vista?
The principal reason given for the tremendous under-the-hood changes to Windows unveiled early this year in Vista was the need to overhaul the
security model. Now it seems many of those changes are also coming to XP in SP3...
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10.10.2007Firms need to plan for XP Service Pack 3
Organisations that expect to be running Windows XP in mid-2010 should plan to test and deploy XP SP3, Gartner has advised.
Microsoft is planning to release Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) and Windows XP SP3 will be available in the first half of 2008.
According to Gartner, deploying Windows XP SP3 should be significantly easier than testing and deploying SP2, which many users considered a major
change of the operating system.
Annette Jump, a research director at Gartner, said, "We will probably see a mixture of Vista and
XP SP3 deployments in 2008. Jump believed some businesses would deploy Vista and some could stick with XP, in which case, they would be looking at
installing the SP3 service pack.
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01.12.2007XP SP3 RC Preview Clarification
I just noticed a post at
Bink.nu where Steven mentions that the XP SP3 RC Preview is now available on Connect. Just to clarify, Microsoft have not
released any new build of XP SP3 to the general Windows Beta Program. While there is the possibility that he may be talking about a different private
beta program on Connect, the main Windows Beta Program on Connect which houses the Vista SP1/Server 2008/XP SP3 betas was last updated with the XP SP3
Beta (Build 3205) in early October.
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24.10.2007Don't slipstream XP SP3 on Windows Vista!
This just in from Bink, seems he had a pretty interesting weekend attempting to Slipstream XP SP3.
"So I build a new Windows XP ISO with
SP3 integrated, this is a Volume License editions (VOL) which only accepts Volume License Keys (VLK). When I want to install it on a clean machine, I
noticed that setup prompts for a product key and it does not allow me to continue, which should be a new feature in XP sp3. OK so I fill in the VLK
but it does not accept it, I try another one from a customer of mine, does not work either. Angry
I found out that the problem is when you
do the XP Sp3 slipstream process on a WIndows Vista machine, the API gives a different response and screws up the PID process. This is a bug and
Microsoft knew about this in December, still the bug remained and made it all the way to RTM, nice work Microsoft.
So XP SP slipstream only
on XP or 2003 machines!!!"
neowin.net -
05.05.2008XP SP3 is still on the schedule for Q1 2008
Mary Jo Foley writes:I've got
to admit that I wouldn't be
surprised to see Microsoft
table Service Pack (SP) 3 for
Windows XP, as Windows expert
Paul Thurrott
claims
the Redmondians have done.
I asked Microsoft for
an official comment on
Thurrott's XP SP3 post and
received the following
response:
"SP3 for
Windows XP Home Edition
is currently
plannedfor 1H CY2008. This
date is preliminary," said a
Microsoft spokeswoman.
In other words: At
least for now, Microsoft is
sticking by the XP
SP3 information on its
product-lifecycle page.
neowin.net - 12.04.2007
Microsoft to ease XP activation with SP3
Microsoft Corp. will change how users activate Windows XP when Service Pack 3 launches in the first half of 2008, a company white paper said.
New installations of Windows XP SP3 will give users the same 30-day grace period currently offered to Windows Vista customers before they're
required to enter a product activation key, the 25-character code that proves the copy is legitimate.
Read full story.....
neowin.net - 28.12.2007
Microsoft: XP SP3 an 'Update Roll-up'
Although Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is the big news of the day, Microsoft is concurrently preparing the third service pack for Windows XP. But SP3
won't introduce much of anything new for XP users, and will simply serve as a roll-up of already released fixes, Microsoft says...
betanews.com - 30.08.2007
Windows XP SP3 available for Windows Embedded for Point of Service and WinFLP
This download is a Service Pack 3 (SP3) update for Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) and Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (WinFLP).
This SP3 update includes all previously released Windows XP security updates, hotfixes, and select out-of-band releases that are applicable to systems
running the WEPOS and WinFLP operating systems.
winbeta.org - 08.10.2008
Windows XP SP3 release just around the bend?
Though we expected, or rather hoped; for Windows XP SP3 late last month it seems that it may arrive before May. According to an "internal schedule"
obtained over at Engadget, OEMs, volume license, Connect, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will have access to the update on April 21st, while everyone
else won't notice it until April 29th when it hits the Microsoft / Windows Update download center. For those who are too busy to download it and
install it, they might have to wait until June 10th when it hits the Automatic updates.
For those who don't know; Windows XP SP3
(Service Pack 3) will be the third and last major update for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. The company released a nearly final beta build
of SP3 called Release Candidate 2 Refresh last month to the public. The latest beta version added support for the HD Audio high-definition audio
format and fixes for some issues with the Windows Update service. Microsoft to date has said only that it expects to roll out a final version of
Windows XP SP3 in the first half of 2008.
jcxp.net - 16.04.2008
XP SP3: TechNet and MSDN subscribers to get beta in two weeks
Microsoft provided an update on the timing for Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3 on August 29.
Company officials said on Wednesday
that the Windows team plans to deliver a near-public beta of XP SP3 (its going to all TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network subscribers) by
mid-September.
The final version of XP SP3 is slated to hit some time in the first half of calendar 2008, officials said. (Thats
the same date the Softies have been promising officially for a while now. Microsoft wont be any more specific on XP SP3 timing.)
Company officials did not release a feature set for XP SP3 on August 29. The only new piece of information available was the public-beta due
date.
Microsoft made available to a set of private testers a preview of XP SP3 earlier in August. I saw an alleged fix list at
that time: It consisted of nearly 1,000 items.
The last time Microsoft provided a cumulative update to Windows XP was in 2004,
when it released XP SP2.
winbeta.org - 29.08.2007
Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3: Official Release Dates
A French website, PC Inpact, has posted
the official Microsoft product change request forms for Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3. So just when do our friends from France say Microsoft is
planning on releasing our little Service Pack friends? Well, according to them, we will be seeing Vista SP1 a little earlier than previously
anticipated:
Windows Vista SP1: February 18th or 19th
Windows XP SP3: March 23rd or 24th
winbeta.org - 06.02.2008
Windows Feature Comparison - Vista SP1 vs XP SP3
Microsoft has just released a whitepaper, which compares the following features and capabilities of Windows Vista with SP1 & Windows XP with SP3 :
Security, Management, Deployment, Mobility, and Productivity.
This Windows Feature Comparison white paper helps customers compare Windows
Vista® advancements with Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional. Using this comparison, customers can adjust their expectations for the
security, management, deployment, mobility, and productivity of either operating system. For each feature or capability, each section compares key
Windows Vista advancements against Windows XP. Presented in a tabular format, it does make an interesting read.
neowin.net - 23.05.2008
Windows XP Service Pack 3 Install Info
Via Bink.nu:
I
did a clean install of Windows
XP Professional (English,
32bit, Volume License) with
Service Pack 2 integrated in a
Virtual Machine. After that I
installed Windows XP Service
Pack 3 Beta build 3180.
The SP3
executable pack is named
windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu
.exe. So there we have the
reserved KB article number.
The size of the pack is 332
MB.
When
installing is replaces and
backs up 2,848 files (456 MB )
to
C:WINDOWS$NtServicePackUni
nstall$
As before it also archives
the SP3 itself in
C:WINDOWSServicePackFilesni386
2,921 Files (552 MB
)
winbeta.org - 09.08.2007
