Microsoft resumes XP, Vista updates

Microsoft on Tuesday said it is resuming two major Windows updates that had been halted because of a conflict with one of its own software products.

A week ago, Microsoft href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9931343-56.html">delayed the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of a problem that could lead to data loss when running the XP update in conjunction with its Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System program. It also halted automatic updates to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 because of a similar issue.

The software maker on Tuesday said it is releasing XP Service Pack 3 for Web downloads, and resuming automatic updates to Vista Service Pack 1, after developing a filter that will prevent machines running Dynamics RMS from getting either update.

The filter is not a fix for the incompatibility, though Microsoft said it is working on that as well.

"A fix for this issue is currently in testing at Microsoft and with customers, and we hope to make it publicly available this month," the company said in a statement. "Until then, Microsoft is advising Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers to not install either service pack."

Those already running Dynamics RMS with one of the Windows updates should contact customer support, it said.

XP update throws some for a loop

Owners of some AMD-based computers are finding that the move to Windows XP Service Pack 3 has sent their systems into an endless reboot cycle.

"While the root cause of this issue is complex, it results from OEMs improperly placing a Windows XP image created for an for Intel-based computer onto machines with non-Intel chipsets," Microsoft said in a statement. "Microsoft issued guidance to OEMs advising them to only load Windows XP images onto like hardware in 2004."

The issue was noted late last week on Microsoft forums and by others, including ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley. Those with a problem are encouraged to contact Microsoft's customer support.

The reboot cycle glitch is the latest hiccup for Microsoft with the service pack update. The company had to delay the release of the XP update after discovering at the 11th hour an incompatibility with one of its own programs.

With that issue, customers running Microsoft's Dynamics Retail Management System could face data loss if they run that program in conjunction with SP3.

After delaying the release of XP SP3 because of the issue, Microsoft finally made the OS update available last week, after creating a filter to ensure that those running Dynamics RMS did not get offered XP SP3.

Cue the OS flamewar theme song -- there's more potential fuel for the Vista hating fires in a recent set of speed tests. Although neither is available to the public yet, earlier reports suggest that upcoming service pack releases for XP and Vista have an unintended result — they make XP "considerably faster" than the much touted Vista.

First the good news. The third service pack for Windows XP, slated to arrive early next year, reportedly gives the venerable OS a near 10 percent performance boost. Those numbers come from Devil Mountain Software which put XP SP2 through a battery of benchmark tests and then did the same to XP using the SP3 beta which was recently handed out to testers.

Although the benchmark tests focused on Microsoft Office, they back up informal reports on blogs and social news sites where a number of people have reported that SP3 gives XP a speed boost. So far Microsoft has only publicly said that SP3 will address bugs and fix security flaws, so the performance gains, if true, would be an unexpected bonus for XP users.

The bad news, from Microsoft’s perspective, is that running the same tests on Vista SP1 shows that the much touted speed improvements in Vista may turn out to be largely insignificant. That would add more fuel to the fire for those already unhappy with Microsoft’s latest operating system.

There’s a few things to bear in mind about these benchmarks. First off neither service pack is an official release and thus may not be fully optmized yet. Also interesting is group’s test machine — a 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 1GB of RAM. It’s worth noting that XP SP2 was not originally optimized for dual core chips. I haven’t been able to find anything suggesting that SP3 is either, but if it is, it would at least partly explain the significant speed improvements over SP2.

The other thing worth noting is that the test really only compares performance in Microsoft Office. Now if you have to pick something common to most users Office is a good bet, but it isn’t the final word. For instance, there’s no guarantee that these benchmarks will mean Halo is going to perform better on XP SP3 than SP2.

Since we haven’t tested either service pack ourselves, we won’t make any judgments, but with Vista already having a hard time marking inroads against XP, particularly with business users, if the lackluster performance ends up being the final word it could be another nail in the Vista coffin.

Windows XP SP3 Lives! Available from Microsoft + Leaked Screenshots

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New information has leaked about Windows XP Service Pack 3, revealing that Microsoft has debuted the testing stage of the refresh. The third service pack for Windows XP has had everything but an easy ride. Announced initially for 2005, XP SP3 was delayed into 2006 and then further postponed for later that same year. Going head to head against the release of Windows Vista, XP SP3 was pushed into 2007 only to get yet another preliminary release date all the way into the first half of 2008. Up until this point there was little information available on XP SP3, outside of the availability date and a few anodyne details about its contents.

Still, Microsoft did slip up earlier this year and announced that Windows XP SP3 would ship by the end of 2007. The Redmond company then denied the validity of the information blaming a spelling error for the promise of XP SP3 in 2007. Microsoft only confirmed the preliminary availability date set for the first half of 2008. However, the company is already testing the third service pack for Windows XP. According to AeroXP, Microsoft shipped Windows XP SP3 to testers concomitantly with the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

Under the Windows Omerta strategy imposed by Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, XP SP2, just as Vista SP1 Beta, was made available to a limited and select pool of testers. Windows XP SP3 is build 5.1.2600.3180 (xpsp.070718-2058) and weighs in at 350MB, including resolves for in excess of 900 problems already addressed through a variety of standalone hotfixes released after SP2. The images included at the bottom claim to be screenshots taken from Windows XP SP3, courtesy of WinBeta.

The launch date for the final versions of Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 are only speculations at this point. Microsoft only confirmed that Vista SP1 beta will be delivered to the public by the end of 2007 and that XP SP3 will drop in 2008. But the obvious proximity of the testing builds for the service pack for XP and Vista could possibly point to a joint release, either by the end of this year, or in 2008.

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