I recently learned more about how hotfixes work for Outlook (and I assume, all of the Office apps). After we release a new version of Outlook, large companies occasionally come back to us and ask us to change something immediately. Sometimes it's a bug fix that affects them, or a change to the design of a feature. If approved, these hotfixes are created and a KB article is written to document the fix, which is then released to the public in the next service pack. These hotfixes aren't released on office.microsoft.com before the SP release because they need the extensive testing that we do for an SP release and that the company requesting the fix can provide. Because of this, someone might occasionally come across a hotfix KB article that matches a problem they're having, but which is not yet available as part of an SP. Typically, these hotfixes will be made available if a Microsoft's customer support determines that it's the right thing to solve someone's individual problem. Additionally (as per this article), customer support may waive the support fee if the hotfix solves the problem.

Productivity Tip: Ctrl-Shift-K is my friend. Whenever I think of something I need to do, I just hit Ctrl-Shift-K and up pops my new task. Enter it, type Alt-S, and voila!