[Gerard]

Is there perhaps a fundamental architectural change with WM6.5, sort of in the ballpark of the change from Palm-size PC to Pocket PC (WinCE 2.11 to WinCE3.0)? That'd be about the only really sensible reason to do this. Otherwise, if it's just a 'WM Store' app which will come included with WM6.5 devices shipped, there really seems no excuse not to offer downloads of such an application to users of earlier devices. I guess it could also be a streamlining thing aimed at simplifying the lives of third-party developers... design all your stuff for WM6.5 and don't worry about 'legacy' support... But considering that EVERY current device being sold is either WM6 or WM6.1, this is really not enough excuse for shooting themselves in the foot in so obvious a fashion. But hey, why would Ballmer want to be seen as taking a page from Apple's book? Better to embarrass yourself and your company and go your own way. Like Sony, with their endlessly shameful end user abandoning hardware compatibility shifts. And you think that absurd, stubborn modus operandi hasn't cost Sony hundreds of millions?