MSDN/TechNet subscribers were in for a surprise this week, as Microsoft’s delayed XP Service Pack 3 update (which was said to be released on May 2) came one week earlier. Windows XP SP3 was initially delayed to make way for its Vista SP1 automatic update, which made MSDN/TechNet users quite unhappy.

And not only that, but they also discovered that the rest of the world will get their hands on the SP3 before them: “Congratulations MS, RTM finally found his way to the Torrent Sites. And our MSDN subscription will definitely run out this year without any renewal,” a subscriber wrote on the TechNet forum.

A company spokesman motivated earlier this week the decision of prioritizing Vista SP1: “To meet high customer demand for Windows Vista Service Pack 1, we have optimized available bandwidth and prioritized MSDN/TechNet delivery channels for Windows Vista SP1 downloads in all Windows languages. Once we have satisfied this demand, we will roll out Windows XP SP3 via MSDN/TechNet.”

However, Microsoft announced yesterday that the standalone update package for Windows XP SP3 in all languages is available on MSDN and it includes previously released updates for the operating system, as well as a small number of new updates “that should not significantly change the Windows XP experience.”

Microsoft is not adding significant Windows Vista functionality to Windows XP through SP3. However, SP3 does include Network Access Protection (NAP) to help organizations work with the new features of the Windows Server 2008 operating system.

According to Microsoft, Windows XP SP3 will be available via Windows Update as a 70MB download or as a full installation of 580MB at Microsoft Download Center. Windows XP SP3 is cumulative, so users can install SP3 on top of Windows XP SP1 or SP2 and supports the same languages as Windows XP did in its initial release.

“As MSDN/TechNet subscribers, we highly value your feedback regarding Windows XP SP3 availability and one of our top priorities is responding to your requests for Windows XP SP3 bits as quickly as we can,” the company further said in yesterday’s announcement. “Over the last few days, the team here worked with our bandwidth and system partners to come up with solutions to make Windows XP SP3 available to you as soon as possible.”