A Microsoft executive said the company will launch Service Pack 2 for Windows XP in December, months earlier than the company forecast on its Service Pack roadmap.
Windows XP SP2 to be 'Springboard' to Longhorn
If you're wondering why Microsoft is taking so long to release Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), wonder no more: The company is working to back-port various Longhorn security technologies into SP2, providing a mid-ground between the default security found in XP and that which will be available in its next major desktop OS. Code-named "Springboard," the new security features include an updated version of the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), which adds outbound scanning capabilities and other features previously found only in Microsoft's enterprise server product, Internet Security & Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000.
Microsoft's SP2 schedule came under fire late this past summer when the company quietly revealed that the release would not ship until the first half of 2004; previously, the company had told me that it would be released by late 2003. The previous service pack was initially released less than a year after XP itself, a schedule that most customers were comfortable with. But delaying SP2 until the first half of 2004 would create an 18 month gap between the service packs, an interminable amount of time given the vast number of security patches and other bug fixes Microsoft has released in the interim. Many of Microsoft's customers continue to avoid installing hot-fixes and other updates, and instead wait for service packs, which collect these updates into a single, installable unit.
About time too!!!!
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