After the problems with the Vista Service Pack 1, Microsoft has decided to change things up a bit, and not allow TechNet subscribers and other ‘early adopters’ access to the download until after the general public has a chance to get it.

Naturally, this has those early adopters very upset, as they pay for the privilege of getting the code first, so that they may find any problems and get them taken care of quickly. Now that the public will be able to adopt at the same time, those who work with the public at fixing any ‘little problems’ will have no head start, and so will have their learning curve delayed.

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

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

The changes are listed as small to large, depending upon who is speaking, as the claims go from simple hardening fixes to speed improvements of about 10%. While 10% is hardly earth shaking, it would seem strange to see a speed increase at this late date, bearing in mind who is coding this.

Most opinions today seem to lean toward the fact that Microsoft has lost their way when it comes to delivering code. The small niggling problems with each release have been replaced by large, difficult to workaround problems, which are inexcusable as the timeframe has been expanded for release, usually by a factor of two. Nowhere is this more evident than the problems with Windows Home Server - problems that are still not repaired, yet the product is still for sale, and being pushed with vigor.

Simple updates or not, only time will tell if Microsoft has gotten the bugs out of Service Pack 3 - which is odd in itself, as this release is designed to fix bugs - and we sometimes wonder why children get confused.

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Tags: service pack 3, technet subscribers, release dates, microsoft, windows xp