Windows XP SP4, maybe someday

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

While I am now suspicious of whether or not there will ever be an SP4
for XP, I downloaded a post-SP3 hotfix that pulled from an SP4
directory off of hotfixv4.Microsoft.com. I realize that any post-SP3
hotfix will be touted as an "SP4" hotfix but one can only wonder.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Shenan Stanley]

While I am now suspicious of whether or not there will ever be an
SP4 for XP, I downloaded a post-SP3 hotfix that pulled from an SP4
directory off of hotfixv4.Microsoft.com. I realize that any post-SP3
hotfix will be touted as an "SP4" hotfix but one can only wonder.

....?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

There will be no SP4.

Microsoft announced over a year ago that SP3 is the final service pack for
XP. There may be rollups for the convenience of users and IT Professionals,
but SP3 is what will be supported until the end of extended support in 2014.

 

[Robert Moir]

While I am now suspicious of whether or not there will ever be an SP4
for XP, I downloaded a post-SP3 hotfix that pulled from an SP4
directory off of hotfixv4.Microsoft.com. I realize that any post-SP3
hotfix will be touted as an "SP4" hotfix but one can only wonder.

Who knows what will happen in the future for sure, but the process you
describe has been SOP for Microsoft's download folder structures for a very
long time. It's good value for gossip but I wouldn't read too much into it.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

Who knows what will happen in the future for sure, but the process you
describe has been SOP for Microsoft's download folder structures for a very
long time. It's good value for gossip but I wouldn't read too much into it.

Yes, I kind of figure it will be the last SP but then there is that
nagging thing about continuing to support XP Home until April 2009. I
doubt a lot can happen in 11 months but you never know. It was just a
funny observation is all, no conspiracy theory. Cheers.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[mickrussom]

There will be no SP4.

Microsoft announced over a year ago that SP3 is the final service pack for
XP.  There may be rollups for the convenience of users and IT Professionals,
but SP3 is what will be supported until the end of extended support in 2014.






- Show quoted text -

I hope to god this isnt true. Windows 2003 and XP are such a breath of
fresh air.

Get this , on Windows XP, my games sound actually works! Oh wow! Sound
working in an OS, who would have thought with Vista?

All of "us" have way too many legacy game and applications we like to
simply forget about because vista is busy deprecating APIs MSFT shived
down our throats.

I just installed slipstreamed XP SP3 with the Intel AHCI drivers
slipped in via nlite and the machine is a dream machine: fast, all
software works, and it - get this - WORKS WITH GAME SOUND .

I wish microsoft would offer to SELL SP4 and get pre-orders. I would
have paid for an NT 4.0 SP7. Lots of people would pay to keep the new
fangled CPU and memory hogging sillyness away forver.

Windows peaked with Windows 2003 SP2, Windows XP-64 SP2. We can only
hope that we can remain in the safe refuge of these OSes forever.

I promise, when "XP" is dead, or when Windows 2003 "dead", the next
rig I run wont be Vista. If im going to break all my old applications,
I may as well switch to something else.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

XP Home is now scheduled to receive extended support until 2014 the same as
XP Pro. MS announced that change more than a year ago.

 

[Robert Moir]

XP Home is now scheduled to receive extended support until 2014 the
same as XP Pro. MS announced that change more than a year ago.

So even if we never see a "SP4" or higher, we might see a range of 600Mb
"Hotfix rollups" that are servicepacks in everything but name. I seem to
recall they did things like this for NT4 and possibly Win 2000.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

XP Home is now scheduled to receive extended support until 2014 the same as

XP Pro. MS announced that change more than a year ago.

Well, I was referring to the sale of XP Home until April 2009 for the
ultra-low cost laptops. You'd almost think that if they continue to
sell it the developers would be locked into providing OEMs support at
least. There will some big hardware changes between now and then that
I would surmise would require some big system updates and not some
paultry patches or roll-ups to support them. One of them being USB
3.0. If memory servers me, USB2 was *officially* supported when SP2
rolled out.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I don't see 600mb worth but I do expect one or more rollups before extended
support ends just like the final one a few years ago for W2k.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Those are preinstalled only and I beleive the date is 2010.

 

[GHalleck]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:

I wish microsoft would offer to SELL SP4 and get pre-orders. I would
have paid for an NT 4.0 SP7. Lots of people would pay to keep the new
fangled CPU and memory hogging sillyness away forver.

Some people consider Windows 2000 to be Windows NT4.0-SP7. And to carry
this further, Windows XP is either Windows NT4.0-SP8 or Windows 2000-SP5.
As for Vista, some would say that it is just a mistake, like Windows ME.
But there is consensus that the Windows NT lineage shall end with 32-bit
computing just like 16-bit computing did with the appearance of the 32-
bit Windows NT 4.0-Workstation.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

I wish microsoft would offer to SELL SP4 and get pre-orders. I would

Some people consider Windows 2000 to be Windows NT4.0-SP7. And to carry
this further, Windows XP is either Windows NT4.0-SP8 or Windows 2000-SP5.
As for Vista, some would say that it is just a mistake, like Windows ME.
But there is consensus that the Windows NT lineage shall end with 32-bit
computing just like 16-bit computing did with the appearance of the 32-
bit Windows NT 4.0-Workstation.

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to make those OS analogies because the
technology each supported was mutually exclusive. Truth be told, even
when XP first came out, it had its share of niggles that people
complained about. Same with Vista. I kind of feel that SP1 for Vista
is what Vista gold probably should have been. By that token, SP2 for
Vista will stabilize it, SP3 will be the equivalent of what SP2 did
for XP: It will be properly baked. But if what some of these rumors
going around on the web have to say, Microsoft may wind up treating
Vista like a read-headed step-child and just put all efforts into
Windows 7. Time will out that theory or not. 32-bit is on its way out
maybe in the next 5-10 years because there are some applications that
may never go 64-bit but we are at the ceiling now. It worries me that
when it will be a requirement to have 8, 16, or 32GB of RAM (to run
Doom 9 or Crysis 6, ha!) the app developers will be dragged kicking
and screaming there because they don't want to let the 32-bit world
go. Who knows, maybe there will be some awesome backwards
compatibility to run, in the future, a 32-bit "legacy" mode. That will
be funny.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Vista x64 and Windows Server 2008 x64 are both NT6. The NT "lineage"
certainly has not ended with anything 32bit. The bitness doesn't matter
anyway. The bitness has nothing to do with the NT level.