Service Pack 2 release date?

"Maybe" is right. Microsoft is still only saying "mid-2004."

Can you or anyone else tell me whether it's worth waiting for? I'm only planning to do the upgrade so that I can start buying software for my daughter (19 months old). Not a huge rush but I'll probably want to do it in the next few months. Should I hold out if it's not too much of a delay? Is SP1 really that bad?

Ive never had any probs with it and have installed xp on hundreds of computers.
sp 2 turns on firewall you can do it now plus sets auto updates on to plus other things its good to get it but wait is your call

Thanks Mark. I'm assuming that with SP1 you can manually set auto-updates, no big deal. I'd heard that SP1 caused some machines to slow down badly which is why I asked.

Another reason I was hoping to wait is that if I ever needed to reinstall, I'd be able to make it a one-step process instead of two. But I'll just do it when I think I need to, thanks again.

I was a part of beta testing SP2 and I can promise you that it's new pop up blocking and firewall features, to name just 2, are outstanding and beat the pop up blocker I use to the punch every time. Ad ware was reduced dramatically and, apart from a few bugs to be fixed, XP SP2 will be definatley worth the download and can be expected some time in July. As far as using Windows XP SP2? It's a painless transition!

Last week I had to re-install XP, and after doing so, I went to the MS Update page. Of course they told me I had to update, mostly security patches, and a few other thing-a-mabobs. After completing the update, I checked out my add/remove programs in the control panel, and all the updates said SP2! Pretty strange, considering the service pack isn't supposed to be released yet.
Thought I'd pass that along, just for the hell of it.