Last week, Microsoft released Windows XP Service Pack 2 Release Candidate 1 to the general public for download; I haven't seen or downloaded this Release Candidate because at 270mb, it is more than my old dial-up modem can handle.
However, there has been folks brave enough to download and try it out, one of such folks is Neil Turner who has been giving us a running commentary of his adventures with Windows XP RC1 from the moment he downloaded it with Firefox, to the MSN Typo offered by Messenger, then to the actual Service Pack 2 Review, a Postscript Review update on MSN Messenger yesterday and another postscript update on Internet Explorer today.
Today's postscript was in response to an article by a blogger called Jeffdav who works for Microsoft and who posted details on his weblog on how Internet Explorer will change under Windows XP Service Pack 2. Basically, there is no change in the rendering engine so we have to live with the CSS bugs, however, for those of you who cannot resist using Internet Explorer, Jeffdav's article covers pop-ups, activeX controls and downloads under Internet Explorer.
Another Microsoft blogger called Tony Schreiner has basically the same information on how Internet Explorer will change under Windows XP2, he also has some screenshots of Internet Explorer's dialog box featuring the Add-ons Manager. (Screenshots are via John Dowdell)
If you are like me and cannot be bothered with the downloads, you may wish to have a look at the Windows XP SP2 screenshots offered by Paul Thurrott. Paul also has a Windows XP Service Pack 2 FAQ which may interest you including some details on Windows XP Reloaded which may be (or may not be) an interim release of Windows XP expected before Longhorn.
And if you were brave enough to install it (hopefully on a non production machine), Microsoft has offered some Private Newsgroups devoted to Windows XP Service Pack 2 where your questions can be answered.