In an interview with ZDNet News today, Microsoft's French security head Bernard Ourghanlian revealed that the software giant will indeed release a third service pack for Windows XP. According to Ourghanlian, Microsoft is planning to ship SP3 after the launch of Windows Vista next year, claiming that their new OS is the foremost "priority for the development teams."
This doesn't exactly come as a surprise seeing as how many corporate customers will still be using XP on their desktops for years after the launch of Vista. As for new features that we can expect in SP3, a Microsoft representative commented that "Historically, certain functions of new versions of Windows are integrated in the service packs of previous versions." One can assume this will mean updated "Vista-Age" versions of software like Windows Media Player being integrated into this new service pack. Internet Explorer 7 integration is still up in the air after a Microsoft developer commented a few weeks back that their "current plan is to continue to ship IE6 on XP SP3, but IE7 will be supported on XP SP3."
View: ZDNet Article
