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Windows Server 2003 SP1 Hits RC2 Stage

Microsoft posted second release candidates on Wednesday night for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

The RC2 version of SP1 is a public preview, available here.

Access to the x64 release candidates will be limited to members of Microsoft's technical beta program or, for the XP version, by signing up for the Customer Preview Program.

More information on the CPP is available here.

The release candidate stage is one of the last steps in Microsoft's product pre-release process. Final versions of SP1 and the x64 editions, which support the AMD64 processor family and the Intel chips with EM64T, remain on track for delivery in the first half of this year, according to Microsoft.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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