
Well, this is interesting. Microsoft, as we all know, released a Windows Vista SP1 candidate to testers a little while ago, but they also quietly slipped a release candidate for Windows XP SP3 into testing a few days later. Now, why wouldn’t they say something about it? Perhaps XP is still more popular than Vista, and Microsoft doesn’t want another XP service pack to steal thunder from the newer OS?
Face it, Microsoft, Windows XP is better than Vista will ever be. All the compatibility headaches, the excruciatingly high system requirements, the atrocious UI redesign (the Aero interface just hurts my eyes, and don’t get me started on the new window buttons)… It just doesn’t work for me. And if you had released on time, users wouldn’t have had so long to standardize on XP.
All Microsoft has said, and reluctantly at that, is that SP3 will be released sometime in the beginning of 2008, which gives a six-month window. Supposedly, it includes thousands of hotfixes released over the last few years (since SP2), and even adds a few new features, a couple of which are ports of some of Vista’s offerings. I wonder what they included? I hope it’s not desktop search; I have no use for it, and it’ll just slow down my computer. And don’t give me Aero, MS; I can’t stand the look.