I thought this line from a CNN story on the petition to keep XP around was telling:

"Others used the comments section to rail against the very idea that Microsoft has the power to enforce the phase-out from a stable, decent product to one that many consider worse, while profiting from the move."

Yeah, I totally agree. I'm the first to embrace new versions of software but aside from the new Server, .NET and Visual Studio releases I'm not at all hyped about this next generation of Windows or Office. It is pretty rotten that no matter how a new version release turns out, the masses are forced to move to it while MS makes money. It seems like instead of taking their time to produce a quality release, products are rushed to market so that there can be a profit turned (Sharepoint & Commerce Server???). So instead of getting higher quality releases less frequently we get frequent low quality releases and we're paying for it. Things like performance, documentation and general user acceptance are tossed out the window. No wonder Apples' market share has increased so rapidly in the last few years (With the help of the iPhone and iPod of course).