Componentized Windows

I found this article entitled "Microsoft Plans To Go 'Modular' With Longhorn" in Microsoft-Watch. There are two things that surprise me in the article: First, Windows XP Embedded is not mentioned. Second, Mary Jo Foley doesn't link to this article in which Paul Thurrott's has published much of the same information months ago (Paul updated the article with new information on April, but I read it months before and I remember almost everything was already there).

Much effort has been put in creating highly differentiated versions of Windows. Just counting every server, client, 32 bits, 64 bits, 64 bit extended, and localized SKUs has become a nightmare. I am glad that Microsoft is maneuvering in search of the simplicity of a componentized Windows. I just wish they struggled more to create a really striped down version of Windows that could run in older hardware and still be able to deliver all the security improvements of XP SP2 and the richness of the .NET runtime.