Microsoft says false alarm: No XP SP3 this year

Sorry, Windows XP fans. It looks like the "end of 2007" date for XP Service Pack (SP) 3 that was in a Microsoft press release issued this week was mistake.

At the end of the (east coast) day on May 23, a Microsoft spokeswoman provided the following update:

"I just received additional information from the product manager responsible for SP3.  While we're still not talking specifics, he did point to the following link as an accurate timeline for our preliminary plans for SP3: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/servicepacks.mspx.  Again, these are just preliminary and we will share more at a later date. Please do reference this link for current timing and disregard the release from InterOp, which is inaccurate."

So it looks like XP SP3 is still -- as of today -- a "first half of 2008" deliverable.