ya, i read about that.  its funny.  how can they be thinking of a new OS when their current one desperately needs an SP1!!!

Or maybe, the Vista team are working on SP1, then will get fired, and another newly hired team are working on a new OS...

you never know...

Maybe it is a proven art, sucking up peoples money with less-than-perfect stuff...

I tell ya, down here in Thailand, Microsoft can only suck money up from hardware, because almost every copy of Windows you see anywhere (unless bought OEM) will be a pirate copy.

"MSA contracts generally run for three years and give customers instant access to upgraded Microsoft programs upon release. However, an OS development time period of five years (as with Vista) has meant that certain upgrades have fallen outside of standard MSA coverage – something Microsoft will likely be keen to rectify through "Windows 7"."

Looks to me like Microsoft will start pushing these MSA's on a larger scale and is using a frequent OS release schedule to make them look more appealing.  Eventually I think this will become a "lease an OS" type scenario where you pay a subscription fee for your OS every month.  Don't know if that would be a good thing or a bad thing, I guess it all depends on how much it costs and whether or not such an OS would be of good enough quality.  I'm sure many itch at the thought of having to pay an MS bill every month but if their OS really kicked butt I bet people would probably end up liking the idea.

But paying monthly for XP (never tried Vista)?  I'd probably just switch over to Linux.