It is unfortunate but quite predictable if  Microsoft has the same arrogance as IBM had, before its downfall.

No.  XP was released in 2001.  There have been thousands if not more updates.  Some of them critical, some important, some optional.  Some of them were security patches, some were bug fixes, some were capability upgrades.  After 12 years in the field, it is being dropped from support.  

Now you want them to take all those updates and roll them together into one huge globule.  That Service Pack would be enormous to download.  AND you want it to work of course, updating all the changes made over the last 12 years.  And I am sure you would want it possible to give options for skipping updates that one might want to not use.  Of course.  And naturally it has to be free because all the other patches were free.

Do you have ANY idea whatsoever the effort it would take to produce such a thing?  You can't just jam all the files into a single zip and away you go.  This project would be a gargantuan undertaking!   And they should do this all in the name of making it easy for the people who still insisted on using an antiquated OS?  They would be fielding thousands of user support tickets to deal with issues created with this monster you are proposing.  Which would generate tens of thousands of man hours to take care of the problems.  Tens of thousands of man hours is easily millions of dollars in wages that need to be paid.  So Microsoft should spend millions of dollars on an OS that has gone End of Life to "make life simpler" for people that should have upgraded 3 years ago?  Amazing.

I don't call the refusal to do that "arrogant".  I call it common business sense.  People have been predicting the downfall of Microsoft almost from the day it started.  I wonder when they will realize it hasn't happened yet.

Please do not read this sentence. Please ignore the previous sentence.

It is unfortunate but quite predictable if  Microsoft has the same arrogance as IBM had, before its downfall.

No.  XP was released in 2001.  There have been thousands if not more updates.  Some of them critical, some important, some optional.  Some of them were security patches, some were bug fixes, some were capability upgrades.  After 12 years in the field, it is being dropped from support.  

Now you want them to take all those updates and roll them together into one huge globule.  That Service Pack would be enormous to download.  AND you want it to work of course, updating all the changes made over the last 12 years.  And I am sure you would want it possible to give options for skipping updates that one might want to not use.  Of course.  And naturally it has to be free because all the other patches were free.

Do you have ANY idea whatsoever the effort it would take to produce such a thing?  You can't just jam all the files into a single zip and away you go.  This project would be a gargantuan undertaking!   And they should do this all in the name of making it easy for the people who still insisted on using an antiquated OS?  They would be fielding thousands of user support tickets to deal with issues created with this monster you are proposing.  Which would generate tens of thousands of man hours to take care of the problems.  Tens of thousands of man hours is easily millions of dollars in wages that need to be paid.  So Microsoft should spend millions of dollars on an OS that has gone End of Life to "make life simpler" for people that should have upgraded 3 years ago?  Amazing.

I don't call the refusal to do that "arrogant".  I call it common business sense.  People have been predicting the downfall of Microsoft almost from the day it started.  I wonder when they will realize it hasn't happened yet.

Please do not read this sentence. Please ignore the previous sentence.

Autopatcher seems to have managed to do exactly what you are describing... so why couldn't Microsoft? Because they don't want to. There is no money in it. BTW... the only real issue I have ever encountered with Autopatcher is the fact that Microsoft either moves or renames the repository files and the Autopatcher script has to be updated to fetch the files from a new location.

Also, isn't this exactly what took place with the other service packs that have been released?

They have already released a SP1, SP2 and SP3 file available for download and also you could order the discs. Why would it be that much of a deal to go ahead and create the SP4 file and/or disc? And we do live in the age of broadband. File size is not as big a deal as it used to be. Not to the user anyway. Only to the person serving the file having to deal with the demand. But I think Microsoft can afford the bandwidth. And if serving the file is an issue, at least offer the discs. They could even ask for shipping charges. I would gladly pay the shipping charges and perhaps even a nominal fee to receive a SP4 disc. And we all know how cheap it is to produce a CD or DVD. I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way.

Pointless....You are ignoring the fact that each month Microsoft is distributing security updates ISOs. Zounds of gigabytes each and every year.

Eg, Feb 2014, 3.3 GB: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41929

It's not a question of space. This SP4 (for XP SP3) will not be larger than 1GB, count on that. It's a question of money. And this is not "arogance". Is defiance and ignorance.

Anyhow, I'm sure that sooner or later the community will release such SP4 equivalent. Because we, the community, like to stick together and to make things going for the benefit of all....

Do you have ANY idea whatsoever the effort it would take to produce such a thing?  You can't just jam all the files into a single zip and away you go.  This project would be a gargantuan undertaking!   And they should do this all in the name of making it easy for the people who still insisted on using an antiquated OS?

Ever heard of a "Service Pack"????  As in Service Pack 1, Service Pack 2 and, wait for it.... Service Pack 3...   OH MY GOD!  The "gargantuan undertaking" not once but thrice for Windows XP alone must have nearly bankrupted Microsoft!

GET REAL! The point of a Service pack is to condense all the previous updates into a single installer - it's been done many times before and will be done many times again for future operating systems.

Must they do it? No... but it would be nice...

What you're failing to take into account is "return on investment" to produce a SP4 for Windows XP.  Microsoft does not want to encourage people to continue using XP and they definitely are not selling XP.  So, absolutely no return on their investment if they published a SP4.

Maybe if you volunteered your time and money to compile a SP4 Microsoft might be willing to allow you to do that as long as you do it for absolutely FREE to them!!

And people in purgatory would really like some ice water, but it's not likely they're going to get any for quite awhile.

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BTW I think that such a SP 4 would not get that big, because they would only need to pack all updates together since SP 3 :) So for me not really a big deal.

But I also don't think that Microsoft will do that, because they want to sell their next bad Windows ever since Windows Vista and that is Windows 8.

And what some people here forgetting, why some people are asking for Windows XP SP 4, is that they may be need to get a new computer to use Windows 7 or 8. So I really understand that request for a Service Pack 4! Because Vista I would also not use in exchange of XP! And that is also a matter of money!

And BTW in our company we are also forced to change some computers, because the hardware is no more compatible with Windows 7 or 8. Which also means for us investment and money. But that is something what Microsoft don't care about.