> Hehe, who cares? Since when has MS ever really "supported" an OS? Ever
> try calling MS for support? (prepare to open your wallet)
>
>   
IIRC if you buy retail and the product is still in mainstream support 
you get a few free support incidents. If you buy OEM then the OEM is 
supposed to support you and they in turn can get support from MS if 
nessacery.

I think MSDN comes with quite a bit of free support too.

> Unless you mean security updates, which MS historically continues to
> provide long after normal "support" ends.
>   
MS has two support periods for most buisness orientated products 
(including windows). During mainstream support (which ends for XP soon) 
they will still consider adding new features and all hotfixes are free. 
During extended support they won't consider new features (with the odd 
exception such as the recent backport of KMDF to win2K)and you have to 
pay $$$ for any new non security hotfixes (e.g. the recent DST change 
hotfix).
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