Download the script and run it on a machine currently running Windows XP Service Pack 2. The script sets a registry key on your system. The registry key is required for Windows Update to recognize your machine as a valid target for Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2.
Versions of Windows XP Service Pack 3 prior to Release Candidate 2 should be removed before attempting to use the registry key. Windows Update will not offer Release Candidate 2 to machines with previous versions of the Windows XP Service Pack 3 beta.
It is recommended that you apply the resulting update package to an activated, genuine copy of Windows XP, in a test environment. As with any pre-release software, it is also recommended that you back up files and settings on your machine before applying this update package.
View: Windows XP SP3 RC2 Release Notes
Download: Windows XP SP3 RC 2 Installer

via Bink.nu

I have installed this on my Vista Ultimate machine and it WORKS. Doesn’t work on an Xbox 360 extender - yet?? I think this is an awesome piece of work and my congratulations and thank you to the Author Anthony Park.

via the awesome Chris Lanier’s Blog

Fellow MVP Anthony Park has just released MyNetflix for Vista Media Center. This incredible MCML plug-in has a host of features including “Watch Now” streaming ability! That’s right, no more waiting for Netflix to get their head in the game. Other features include…

• View Netflix queue
• Browse movies
• View your history/recommendations
• Add/remove/move movies to your queue
• Browse “Watch now” movies
• Play “Watch now” movies

Grab the free beta download here. Thanks for Anthony Park and Ryan Hurst (for the original work) for making this plug-in a reality.

Ed Bott at Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report has this to say about Vista SP1

I’ve been working with Windows Vista Service Pack 1 for several months now, in beta releases and, for the last two weeks, in the final released code. I’ve put together this post to answer some questions I’m frequently asked about this long-awaited update. If you have a question that isn’t in this list, ask in the Talkback section.

How big is SP1?

That depends on how you get it. The standalone updater for the five-language version weighs in at 434MB (455,562,200 bytes) for the x86 version, and 726MB (761,740,600 bytes) for the x64 version. If you download the installer via Windows Update, however, the package is much smaller, typically over 50 MB but well under 100 MB. The updater uses Remote Differential Compression to compare the currently installed OS files with the SP1 files on the server, downloads the changed portions from the Windows Update server, and then combines the updates with the unchanged contents on the computer being upgraded.

The 32–bit standalone installer is approximately 60% larger than Windows XP Service Pack 2. Delivered via Windows Update, Vista SP1 is slightly smaller than the Windows Update version of XP SP2.

Will SP1 install on my copy of Windows Vista?

Yes, as long as you have a retail, OEM, or Enterprise edition in English, German, French, Spanish, or Japanese. If you have any other language packs installed (in Vista Ultimate or Enterprise), you’ll have to uninstall them first. A standalone updater for all worldwide languages will be available in April.

Read the rest at Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report

A variation of this is published at www.lockergnome.com/nexus/betagnome   which is my new home on lockergnome.com.

You may be with Chris Prillo’s Windows Vista Experience.

Well let me tell you mine have been no better, however it has been different. I started testing Vista at Beta 1, dual booting it with my XP install. Hardware problems were first to show up, not only from the lack of drivers standpoint, but “faulty” drivers as well.

Lack of drivers was and regretably still is a big issue, regardless of Microsoft PR.

PRINTER ISSUES
My color laser printer from Konica-Minolta, a 2300DL (less than 2 yrs old) doesn’t work the way it is supposed to. They claim that the Windows XP driver will work, it might, but the Network Printer functions do NOT, and that is how it is installed. Sure, I could “work around” that and share it on the same network. But that means the machine that it is connected to must be on for it to be available.

Read my next post which will tell the tale of the dual boot corruption issues at www.lockergnome.com/nexus/betagnome

Let me add one conclusion upfront and early - I like Vista, even if I have issues. If we don’t let Microsoft know what we don’t like and where we are frustrated - how can they make the “Vista Experience” better.