TechNet subscribers rip Microsoft over XP SP3 'farce'

In a repeat of a February donnybrook over SP1 (Service Pack 1) for Windows Vista, IT professionals and developers are blasting Microsoft's decision to withhold the final version of Windows XP SP3 (Service Pack 3) from them until after it's released to the public.

Subscribers to TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), who pay hundreds annually to the Microsoft for the right to download software for testing and development purposes, called the move a "farce," a "slap in the face" and "ludicrous."

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Monday, Microsoft announced that it had finished Windows XP SP3, the last major update for the six-and-a-half-year-old operating system, and said that it would post the upgrade on Windows Update and its own online download site next Tuesday, April 29.

But subscribers to the TechNet and MSDN services won't be able to obtain SP3 until sometime "within the next month," according to Chris Keroack, the service pack's release manager.

Another Microsoft employee, Nick MacKechnie, a senior technical account manager with the company's New Zealand operation, was more specific about dates. In a blog post yesterday, MacKechnie listed several dates in an SP3 timetable, including a May 2 release to TechNet and MSDN. The timetable has since been pulled from MacKechnie's blog.

The delay -- whether a month or several days -- did not sit well with some TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Many, in fact, brought up the February incident, when Microsoft first refused to let subscribers download Vista SP1. After pressure from users, it reversed that decision about two weeks later.

"This is the same garbage that was pulled initially with Vista SP1," said a user identified as Rick Dee in a message on the TechNet support site. "Are you trying to discourage people from subscribing to MSDN and Technet?"

"I'm not normally one to complain, but I can't believe that Microsoft is screwing over their paying subscribers again!" said Chris Mahoney. "Did [Microsoft] not learn anything from the Vista SP1 debacle?"

User after user weighed in, some sounding incredulous that Microsoft would publicly post SP3 before they could download and test it. "I literally cannot believe this!" said Tony Almeidaa, on the same thread as Dee and Mahoney. "We need to be able to test this out with our software and hardware before deploying to the whole network."