A ZDNet blog post contains a bit more ‘measured’ information about it along with responses from one of the guys who reported the exploit.

Once major manufacturers such as Dell and HP have cleared their stocks of machines loaded with XP, then new machines will only be issued with Vista, and anyone wishing to revert to XP will have to buy Vista Ultimate or Vista Business and then legally “downgrade” to XP.

Smaller PC makers will be allowed to buys XP for resale through til January 2009. Cut down versions of XP will also remain available for use on machines such as the Asus Eee PC.

The decision comes despite vociferous protests from large numbers of people unhappy with Vista and amid calls for XP to be kept on-line until the release of the next Windows version 7, pencilled in for sometime in 2009.

Last week, Microsoft said it would provide full technical support for Windows XP through 2009, and limited support through 2014.

Microsoft said that this release followed an earlier preview that was downloaded some 300,000 times and has resulted in a lot of feedback, and as a result, a number of quality improvements.

One improved area is the system’s ability to search across machines. Windows Search 4′s remote discovery service will now let users run data queries between Vista and XP machines, for example.

For now Windows Search 4 is available to download from the Microsoft web site, however, in the future it will be included in the Windows Update service as an option, the firm said.

In April, Microsoft announced the worldwide extension of the availability of Windows for this emerging class of devices that are primarily used for e-mail, accessing the Internet and instant messaging, and the company is seeing much demand among industry partners who want to ensure that customers can have the benefits of Windows on both new and existing devices.

Customers are asking for Windows on these devices because the experience is familiar to existing PC users and easy to learn for customers who are new to computing. Customers want to be able to take advantage of the wide range of applications, devices and online experiences supported by Windows today. Microsoft partners also appreciate Windows-based solutions for these computers because they already know how to build and support high-quality systems that are powered by Windows.

The marketplace for this emerging class of computers has expanded, and Microsoft and its partners are now seeing interest in these devices in developed markets as well, especially as companion devices in multi-PC households. As demand for this new category has grown, both customers and partners have expressed their strong preference that Windows be the operating system on these devices.

“Customers and partners have made it clear to us that they want Windows on their netbooks and nettops,” said Steven Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of the Original Equipment Manufacturer Division at Microsoft. “We are committed to providing Windows solutions for these devices, helping to ensure a high-quality experience for both our partners and customers.”

The company has been investing in this emerging hardware category in a variety of ways, with its efforts around Windows in emerging markets and by extending the availability of Windows to developed markets worldwide. The special class of mobile and desktop devices known as netbooks or nettops is optimized for Internet-based activities such as e-mail, Web browsing and instant messaging. By making it possible for OEMs to offer Windows on these devices, Microsoft enables consumers to have the familiar computing experience they have come to expect, as well as a robust platform that can integrate with their other computers and devices.

“We have seen much demand for Windows on the Eee PC,” said Jerry Sheen, CEO of ASUSTek Computer. “It is great that Microsoft is addressing this customer demand and providing a Windows solution on these devices, which will provide a familiar computing experience.”

“The Asus Eee PC has been and continues to be a very successful product for Cellnet,” said Julian Phua, general manager of Cellnet Group Ltd. “The feedback from our customers in retail and the reseller channel is that they overwhelmingly prefer to sell the Eee PC running with Windows. To move our existing Linux inventory, we are now offering our channel the option of purchasing Windows XP with their Eee units so they can provide a compelling offering for customers.”

Microsoft is working with more than 20 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including Acer Inc., ASUSTek Computer Inc., BenQ Corp., Dell Inc., First International Computer Inc., Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd., HP, Inventec Corp., Lenovo, Medion AG, Micro-Star International Co., Positivo Informatica, Pegatron Corp., Quanta Computer Inc. and Wistron Corp. to deliver Windows-based offerings for consumers.

Source: Microsoft

A survey by Evans Data questioned 380 US software developers and found that just eight percent are developing applications for Vista.

Almost half the respondents are focusing development efforts on Windows XP, while more than one in 10 are still writing applications for Windows 2003.

Linux was the preferred development platform for a further nine percent of those questioned.

John Andrews, president of Evans Data, claimed that developers are taking a wait and see approach following Vista’s mixed reception.

“The general theme has been a slower uptake in the user market so most people at the corporate enterprise and commercial world are staying with XP,” he said.

Andrews also pointed to the rapid growth in popularity of the Mac platform among US software developers.

“Although unlikely to displace Windows volume, Mac OS experienced 50 percent growth as a primary development platform and 380 percent growth as a targeted platform during the period,” he said.

Next year, however, should see a more positive response from developers to Windows Vista. The survey found that one in four intends to focus on Microsoft’s latest OS in 2009.

The problems, which first arose just one day after the push, have been causing lots of noise on Microsoft support sites and angry user blogs.

One user reported, “I just installed Windows XP SP3 and after completing the processes and when the system reboots, the system cannot proceed to load the Windows. It just displays the flash screen of Windows then after it reboots again.”

Angry users have also reported that, after the installation, it is not even possible to boot in safe mode, usually the last resort before setting up a repeated forehead/screen interface.

Jesper Johansson, a former program manager for security policy at Microsoft and a well respected blogger has provided some pointers as to where the problem might lie.

According to Johansson, there appears to be two separate problems. One affects only AMD-equipped PCs sold by Hewlett-Packard. “The problem is that HP, apparently along with other OEMs, deploys the same image to Intel-based computers that they do to AMD-based computers,” said Johansson.

“Because the image for both Intel and AMD is the same all have the intelppm.sys driver installed and running. That driver provides power management on Intel-based computers. On an AMD-based computer, amdk8.sys provides the same functionality.”

A week ago, Microsoft delayed the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of a problem that could lead to data loss when running the XP update in conjunction with its Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System program. It also halted automatic updates to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 because of a similar issue.

The software maker on Tuesday said it is releasing XP Service Pack 3 for Web downloads, and resuming automatic updates to Vista Service Pack 1, after developing a filter that will prevent machines running Dynamics RMS from getting either update.

The filter is not a fix for the incompatibility, though Microsoft said it is working on that as well.

“A fix for this issue is currently in testing at Microsoft and with customers, and we hope to make it publicly available this month,” the company said in a statement. “Until then, Microsoft is advising Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers to not install either service pack.”

Those already running Dynamics RMS with one of the Windows updates should contact customer support, it said.

If you’re like me and tired of the same old Windows XP theme that you’ve had for years, then you may have been looking for some themes that can brighten things up a little. To save you the hassle of searching further, I’ve listed three themes below which I think you might like and best of all, they are all completely free and very easy to install.

Royale Blue

Download Here!

Simply Run the installer and then use the Display Properties to change the theme.

Royale Black

Download Here!

1. Unzip the contents to your Desktop and then copy the folder into your themes directory – e.g. c:\windows\resources\themes\
2. Double click the luna.msstyles to start the installation of the theme.

Zune

Download Here!

Similar to the Royale Blue installation, simply run the installer and use the Display Properties to change the theme.

And there you have it!  Three extra themes to give WIndows XP a crisp new look.

The software maker said there is a “compatibility issue” between the XP service pack and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System, a retail chain management program for small and midsize businesses.

Microsoft finalised the code for Windows XP SP3 last week and had planned to make it broadly available starting Tuesday.

“In order to make sure customers have the best possible experience, we have decided to delay releasing Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Microsoft Download Center,” the company said in a statement.

The glitch also exists between Microsoft Dynamics RMS and Windows Vista Service Pack 1, though that product has already been broadly released. Microsoft started pushing out Vista SP1 last week via Automatic Updates.

“To help protect our customers, we plan to put filtering in place shortly to prevent Windows Update from offering both service packs to systems running Microsoft Dynamics RMS,” Microsoft said. “Once filtering is in place, we expect to release Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Download Center.”

Microsoft advised those running Microsoft Dynamics RMS to not install either service pack. The company said a “fix is currently in testing and will be available as soon as that process is complete”.

The update is likely to be deployed quickly in enterprises, as it enables IT departments to ensure client systems are fully patched, without having to roll out a myriad of separate fixes.

It also brings extra security in the form of support for Network Access Protection (NAP), a technology introduced in Vista. NAP is a policy enforcement mechanism to ensure systems comply with security requirements.

SP3 may, however, convince some IT leaders that staying on XP is preferable to a potentially costly Vista migration.

Considering the take-up of Vista is very slow, it seems strange that Microsoft has opted to release SP3. It’s almost like they are trying to extend the life of XP.

Steve Sutton, vice president of the Technology Services division at Capgemini, said that Vista adoption is minimal among its enterprise customers. “No clients have been talking to me about Vista rollouts,” he said.

Enterprise buyers have been put off Vista by its steep hardware requirements compared with XP, plus reports of poor performance and stability issues from users. The IT director of a UK charity told IT Week it planned to stay on XP “as long as possible. We simply cannot afford to change hardware just to implement Vista.”