Ok, I ran across this
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2456
It appears that MS will have downgrade options on new systems with Win 7 (when released) to be downgradeable to Win XP!
this is cool.
Why do you think MS would downgrade so far? I think, they know even Win 7 is not going to the killer OS that everyone wants, and wants people to keep buying Windows.