HTC's "Manila" interface is a today item that overlays and essentially replaces the whole kaboodle - it also has its hooks in the gwes EXE (GUI) in order to modify the device's interface, the fancy 3D shit is a capability of the hardware. The way that's achieved is simple enough - get yourself a copy of Platform Builder, read the source... you can in fact download the CE version freely, which is (usually) close enough to WM that you can make something.

Actually, you appear to be confusing "open platform" with "open phone" The HTC manufactured Android devices aren't open in any way shape or form, all ROM updates are RSA signed, and the only way to "free" the device from these restrictions is by either exploiting something or alternatively, flashing to an old ROM that can be exploited.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/02/05/windows_xp_7_vista_upgrade/

according to Microsoft, upgrading to 7 from Vista is just fine. XP to 7 will have upgrade editions available, but it will require a clean install when you run it. ...unless Microsoft do a volte-face that is. naturally, I envision that Server editions will *not* have this issue as R2 is usually released as an additional installation to the base OS.

pffft, I upgraded a Server 2003 to Server 2008, the baby runs sweet as a nut. of course, it depends what kind of "cruft" you like to install to your machines.

woo, I only registered today and got my first submission posted. Anyhoo... I agree with the statistic possibly being a bit of bullshit, though that said, I largely agree that there's very likely still quite a large degree of total apathy towards the newer windows editions. So many companies use crappy legacy apps that are critical to their business despite the fact the software's probably been replaced by something much better... usually the staff need retraining because they're essentially monkeys. Still, withdrawing support tends to give businesses cardiac arrests so "hook or by crook" Microsoft will prevail.

yeah... my Thermos is glass, it's also really fucking old.

er, would be rather counter-productive and expensive.

you do realise that the inside of a thermos flask is glass right? metal is quite a good conductor of heat, and therefore, would be rather expensive. the outside is stainless steel for durability the inside has that ubiquitos vaccum space and then a glass container.