As the first week of August approaches and RTM (release to manufacturing) deadlines are close the question on every geeks lips is "what build will final be?"
According to sources close to Microsoft, late last friday builds stood at 2173 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040723-1834). Currently builds are likely to be at 2175. We"re expecting the final RTM to sign off at 2180 to RTM in the first week of August. RTW (release to web) will follow RTM by around 10 days. So everyone should be able to get their hands on SP2 final in the second week of August.
Having RTM in the build strings since build 2170 is nothing new. Windows Server 2003 had RTM in the build strings for nearly a month before it was declared final. Even still we"re still expecting SP2 final on August 4th providing there are no delays (yet again).
Thanks to Shawn for the 2173 screenshot.