The next service pack for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system will not ship until 2007, the Redmond giant revealed today.

Microsoft had displayed a projected mid-2007 shipping date for the next service pack for XP on its life cycle website for a brief period.

This information was unavailable at the time of this story's posting, however, and the webpage stated instead that XP was last updated on 15 August 2003.

A Microsoft spokeswoman could not comment on the date posted on the website and the fact that the information had been removed. But she did confirm that Microsoft plans to make available one more service pack for Windows XP.

"We are tentatively targeting the second half of 2007 for release," she wrote in an email to vnunet.com. 

Microsoft periodically publishes service packs that bundle all updates and patches published over a period of time. The packs can provide additional features and are typically made available free of charge.

Service Pack 2 for Windows XP was released in August 2004, bolstering Windows security by introducing a firewall and changing numerous system settings.

The added resources required for the development of SP2 caused a delay in the delivery of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Vista operating system, which is scheduled for release in late 2006.

The company appears to be determined to prevent a repeat of these events. " Right now our priority is Windows Vista. We will have more information to share about the next service pack for XP after Windows Vista ships," said the spokeswoman.