Microsoft Releases Windows XP RTM, No True Reason for Excitement

With Vista SP1 having been out for just over a month, isn’t it about time that Windows XP gets the love it deserves? If you say yes, then don’t worry, it will happen next Tuesday, according to a TechNet forum post. At that time, it will become available as a direct download off of the Microsoft web site, and also become available through Windows’ built-in updater.

Should you be excited? Not really. Not unless there is a specific feature you know that’s going to be added, because after installation, the noticeable differences are minimal. According to the Defense In Depth blog at News.com, SP3 will prove useful for network administrators far more than home users, but everyone should upgrade on release for the sake of being up to date.

Initial installation reports are good, and when I installed the RC1, I also had no problem, so I only imagine that the RTM is all the better. Worth the download if you can find it now, but for those who don’t mind waiting, look forward to it next Tuesday.

Microsoft says the service pack includes functionality previously released as updates. Perhaps that’s why the download and installation for SP3 was effortless on our test system. XP SP3 took only 30 minutes to download, and 10 minutes to install.

Source: Defense In Depth