Shoutbox

you still havent given a reponse to my solution to the actually probel mthat the thread poses. why cant you just use windows messenger 5 it is very good.
but as this thread seems to have gone completly off topic i may as well continue it.
ie needs to be built into the OS because it makes developement for Windows much easier for all developers including microsoft. you see instead of a company having to make its own browsing protocols it can just use the ie ones whichs make developing easier so that is why you cant remove ie from the os (although you can remove it from being opened by the user through add remove programs).
longhorn has been delayed several times yes but the only thing that has been removed is winfs which will come out about 6 months later. microsoft would never release an os every year like Apple does because they wouldnt make money from it. it costs microsoft billions of dollars to produce windows and normal pc users just upgrade when they need a new pc and they dont really care that a new version of windows is out. apple on the other hand has a user base that wants the latest and greatest thing so apple will make money.
if you are under the crazy impression that microsoft cant make a new os every year then your wrong obviously with the resources they have they could make a new version each year, they just dont want to cause it would be financial suicide.