It’s a great news for Windows XP and Vista users,

Last year Microsoft said that they are going to stop Windows XP in june, but now this is turning other way around. “Microsoft Monday completed work on Windows XP SP3. The company said the final code of the service pack has been released to manufacturing and now is working its way to OEMs and corporate customers. Access via Microsoft’s Automatic Update feature will begin April 29.” according to Infoworld

Windows XP SP3 includes all previously released Windows XP updates, including security updates and hotfixes, and select out-of-band releases. Windows XP SP2 was released in August 2004.

SP3 includes:

• Network Access Protection (NAP) to help organizations that use Windows XP to take advantage of new features in the Windows Server 2008 operating system.

The new XP Service Pack also rolls up the following features:

• MMC 3.0
• MSXML6
• Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 v2
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.5
• IPsec Simple Policy Update for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP
• Digital Identity Management Service (DIMS)
• Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) 2.1
• Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)
• “Black Hole” Router Detection.

Windows XP SP3 is cumulative, so you can install SP3 on top of Windows XP SP1 or SP2.