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Last month, the company sent the SP3 beta to 15,000 testers worldwide. Now the company is reportedly making it available to members of the MSDN and TechNet programs.

Early feedback on the beta has been favourable, with bloggers suggesting that an SP3 machine is up to 10% faster than an XP2 PC with an identical specification.

Any boost in the performance of Windows XP will turn the heat up even further on Windows Vista. The new operating system has been plagued with performance issues, and the beta version of Vista SP1 has failed to give the operating system a much needed boost. Even PC Pro's contributing editor, Jon Honeyball, admits he "can't tell the difference between the pre-SP1 and post-SP1 Vista."

Microsoft has yet to confirm a release date for XP SP3, stating only that it will arrive in the first half of 2008.

It's highly unlikely, however, that the company will release the XP update before Vista SP1 has at least had a chance to breathe fresh impetus into Vista sales.