Well actually I have found a sp3 CD that I bought some time ago,
(this is not an XP install cd, but rather the sp3 only cd )
Could I use this one sp3 cd to update any and all of my XP
licenses, for future reinstalls ?
Yes. What you do is "slipstream" SP3 into your CDs. Read here:
http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=7262
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/slipstream.htm
The word "slipstreaming" was originally used to refer to the practice
of many software manufacturers of including updates to their product
on the distribution CD without any real announcement of what they were
doing or differentiation of the various kind of CDs. It was always a
disparaging term because it was poor practice. It was used as a way
for the manufacturer not to have to print a different box, manual,
etc. for the updated version, and to sell older stock that didn't
appear to be outdated, but actually was. That saved them money, but it
left the customer unable to tell whether he was buying the new version
or the old.
Somewhere along the line, people started creating their own updated
versions of some software, by merging the update files with the
original CD. Someone got the bright idea to call it by the same name
"slipstreaming," without realizing that the name was originally used
in a disparaging way.
The term stuck. I dislike the use of the word this way, but the
original meaning has been lost, so I long ago gave up trying to fight
it. Since everybody now uses it simply to mean a version with the
upgrade incorporated in it, I reluctantly go along.
So these days a slipstreamed copy of XP simply means an installation
CD that you've made yourself that incorporates an upgrade, such as
SP3.
