As some members here at CN have already speculated, there may be no Service Pack 3 for XP. This from PC World. [Excerpt] With Microsoft now saying that its next major service pack for Windows XP will not ship until 2008, some Windows users are wondering whether the software upgrade will ever be released. That puts the update within months of the early 2009 cutoff date for mainstream support for the XP operating system, and users like Centimano are now worried that Microsoft may not feel a Service Pack 3 is worth the effort.

XpUser, didn't see your post on SP3 until after I'd already posted mine.

it won't be a real SP, just a summary of all security fixes, if you visit MS update regularly, you won't need this pack. it won't add any new features to winxp

Hi Internet, That's OK. My feeling is there never will be SP3. Reason? According to Steve Ballmer (M$ CEO), Windows XP is targeted as Vista's No. 1 competitor. php, we know that. There are already over 80 fix and there will be many more will come over the course of time. SP3 would have consolidate all them all as one fix & make our reinstalling Xp easier. All in all, I reckon M$ is about to force the world to migrate to Vista. In other words M$ is beginning to Microsoftize the PC industries, users and suppliers to their advantage. i_XpUser

XpUser, Like you, I suspect that Microsoft will attempt to force people to change over to Vista. Not this little black duck, though. I've found that there is an abundance of free software available for Ubuntu Linux (or more correctly, Debian). I've managed to track down software to perform almost every task that I currently do under Windows. And for those few tasks that I haven't found software for (specialist tasks that the average user has no use for), I'll use my programming skills to create what I need. I truly believe that Ubuntu has the potential to become Vista's No.1 competitor. Unlike most Linux distro's, Ubuntu is easy enough for the non-geeks among us (hope I fit that category) to use. The biggest stumbling block, as far as I can see, is that few Windows users have looked at Ubuntu. A quick look at the Ubuntu Forums and it's obvious that this OS is a feasible option for the average PC user. In the past, I've found that any help available for the various Linux distro's was complete geek-speak, and not understood by the average user. The Ubuntu Forums have removed this disincentive to running a Linux box. I should not be running Windows on any of my machines by the time Vista is released. Imagine, a stable system without hundreds of megabytes of patches, and the greatly decreased vulnerability to malware. Add to that the difference in purchase price (Ubuntu is a free download), abundance of free or open-source software, and no longer being at the mercy of Microsoft (with their contempt for the users of their products). Of course, we'd need to see a mass exodus to Linux before the game programmers start porting their products to Linux (not being a gamer, this doesn't affect me). Unfortunately, that's the same excuse the virus writers need to start targeting Linux, rather than Windows, but we've had that to deal with under Windows anyway, so it's really a no-brainer. So beware, Mr Gates. Looks like you're not bulletproof, after all. Ubuntu could easily cost you a large slice of your customer-base. And after the way you've run roughshod over the computing community, it serves you right. Please let us know if you found someone's advice to be helpful.