Microsoft announced on Monday that Windows XP SP3 has been released to manufacturing and will be released to the Internet on April 29th. The first release will be a stand alone installer. Windows users will see it in the automatic update in "early summer."
"Windows XP SP3 includes previously released updates for the operating system, as well as a small number of new fixes and additions that should not significantly change the Windows XP experience," a Microsoft spokespeson told TMO.
"Windows XP SP3 will be released to the web (RTW) on April 29, 2008, and Automatic Update distribution for users at home will begin in early summer. For customers deploying Windows Vista, enhancements to Windows XP SP3 (such as Network Access Protection or NAP) will make it easier to co-manage Windows XP and Windows Vista within the same corporate environment."
For more information on the SP3 release, visit the Microsoft TechNet. Previously, Microsoft published an Overview page with a pdf file explaining the update. Anyone who has installed betas of XP SP3, say RC2, will need to uninstall prior to the installation of the final version of SP3, according to Microsoft.