With the news of Vista Service Pack 1 being released First Quarter 2008, and the beta possibly dropping in 2 weeks, Microsoft has quietly said Windows XP Service Pack 3 will be made available for download within the next 2 weeks!! Everyone got a taste of it few weeks ago when someone leaked a copy of it, but it look as if MS is gonna do this officially! Here is the news excerpt from Softpedia News, and I quote:

"Now Microsoft has confirmed that the full beta of the service pack for Windows Vista will be available for download via Connect to some 10,000 to 15,000 testers. Additionally, the Redmond company also announced that the first actual beta of Windows XP SP3 will be delivered to all TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network subscribers. The third refresh for XP is planned for limited availability by mid September. At this point in time, Microsoft failed to reveal if a public beta of the service pack will be offered to users, in a manner similar to that of Windows Vista SP1.

However, unlike Vista SP1 which only now had its final availability date confirmed for the first quarter of 2008, Windows XP SP3 was scheduled all along for the first half of the coming year. In mid July, Microsoft delivered to a select pool of testers Windows XP SP3 pre-beta build 5.1.2600.3180 (xpsp.070718-2058). The version was subsequently leaked to peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Microsoft emphasized that the third service pack for Windows XP, as well as the first service pack for Windows Vista, would not impact considerably the users’ experience on each of the two operating systems. Still, XP SP3 is long overdue as Microsoft delayed the product from 2006, to 2007 and then to 2008. The last refresh, for Windows XP, SP2 was made available back in 2004."

Looks like we are gonna get a nice double dose of Service Packs in the coming weeks.

Source: Softpedia

This is just me but vista and xp has to be ready for server 2008 or that will be a bad for all the I.T's out there

Ill believe it when I see it

I don't understand the reason for a beta, really...Isn't it supposed to be an update package only, with no feature additions/updates at all?

The updates from WU are never beta tested by us...

No, XP SP3 is not just a rollup. It will include some updates from the Server 2008/ Vista SP1 Beta as well like updated Networking. That is why all 3 are being done at the same time.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/nap/napfaq.mspx

Q. Which versions of Windows support Network Access Protection as a client?

A. NAP clients must run either Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. For computers running Windows XP, Microsoft is including the NAP Client for Windows XP (now in beta testing) in Windows XP Service Pack 3.

Q. When will Windows XP support Network Access Protection as a client?

A. Microsoft is including the NAP Client for Windows XP (now in beta testing) in Windows XP Service Pack 3. For more information about the availability of Windows XP Service Pack 3, see Windows Service Pack Road Map. For additional information about NAP support for versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, click here.

Service Packs and updates are different.
They do internal testing of updates, but I don't think they'd have a 4 week beta process for each update.

Until SP2, a service pack was just a rollup. But SP2 change that by adding more functionality and security (ie: firewall defaults).

To the best of my knowledge, SP2 is the first to do such a thing. (on a desktop level at least).

We don't know yet whats really planned for SP3. Some features would be nice, but I don't forsee that happening.

Just give us DirectX10 so I can forget all about Vista...