Tardy XP Service Pack: No Cause for Concern?
Microsoft’s plan to release a third service pack for Windows XP later than expected should not have much effect on sales of Windows Vista, the company’s upcoming desktop upgrade, according to a market analyst. Service Pack 3 for XP is due in the second half of 2007, according to the company’s service pack road map on its Web site. It’s doubtful the release of Service Pack 3 has been changed so as to not interfere with the launch of Vista, wrote Al Gillen, research director for system software at IDC. “There is a huge installed base of customers [over 400 million] using Windows XP, and Microsoft would gain nothing by causing pain or concern among those customers to somehow manipulate their adoption plans for Windows Vista,” Gillen wrote in an e-mail response to a query. By the time Windows Vista is launched–due for later this year–around 525 million users will be using XP, and the OS will be in use for years to come, Gillen wrote.
