Lets look at it another way. If they maintain the code to run on 98, ME, NT 4, 2000, XP, XPsp1, Mac (8?, 9?, 10? 10.1, 10.2x?) they have a lot more to maintain. When was the last time you could readily buy a 98 machine? hm...may say, 3 years ago? They haven't sold ME for almost a year, and by the release of 6 it will be approaching 1.5 years.

By supporting only newer OS's, they don't have to worry as much about backward compatibility, they can harness the enhancements of the newer operating systems, and they can add features that may have performed horribly on the old systems. What would happen if they added such great features to 6 that to make them all work on 98 the new features (and maybe older ones) ran horribly slowly? Admit it, you would crucify them! Likewise, their target user is not someone who is using 98 first edition (verses SE) and running it on a P2/350 with 96megs of ram. Those who want the features and power of 6 without waiting 6 weeks to render will want to run at least a p3/500 or faster I would assume. Not many Win 98 systems running that.

At what point does Microsoft stop supporting Windows 3.1? When does your local cable company stop broadcasting in B&W? Do you pick up the phone and get a party line? What about using a rotary phone versus touch tone? Exactly...users beg for the newer features and at a certain point supporting the old way isn't practical.