Windows XP Service Pack (SP 3), which Microsoft officials said in January to expect in the latter half of 2007, now has slipped into 2008.

Microsoft delivered the last service pack update for XP, Windows XP SP2 (which was actually more of a whole new version of Windows than it was a typical service pack) in August of 2004.

And that's not all that's slipping: Windows Server 2003 SP 2, until recently due out in the second half of 2006, is now slated for Q1 2007. Microsoft released SP1 for Windows Server 2003 in March, 2005.

The latest bad news on the Windows SP front comes directly from Microsoft, via its own Windows Service Pack roadmap page. The new XP service pack dates are listed as "preliminary." The Windows Server 2003 SP2 date is not.

Windows Service Pack Road Map   http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/servicepacks.mspx