From a programmer's standpoint, I have a few things to say.
Think about it logically, if one program crashes, it won't actually -crash- the other program. Say program A (we'll pretend its IE) calls to program B (we'll pretend its Outlook Express) to get the addresses in your address book, and then IE crashes due to some problem in the code, it won't crash Outlook, because outlook is not dependent on Internet Explorer. On the other hand, if Outlook were to crash while Internet Explorer was calling for the address book, Internet Explorer would simply return an Error. They aren't stupid.
It's a simple thing to code, really, and I promise they can manage.
try { this } catch (exception e) {and do this}
If microsoft really wanted to make serious cash flow, not only would they develop a new Office dependent upon their new operating system, but continue to innovate and update their XP and previous versions, so those who feel comfortable with their older operating systems can continue to buy microsoft products and be happy. Microsoft is happy, the consumer is happy. Any problems?
Also, people don't -have- to buy the new windows. They don't -have- to buy microsoft office. There are plenty of free alternatives out there, such as StarOffice, which I personally use. Also, why would someone go out of their way to buy the MSOffice dependent on Longhorn, when they already have OfficeXP? It just makes no sense, and it won't happen. There is no "forcing" of buying products here.
As far as the cost of the OS goes, i think that's just a bunch of horseshit. We all know it will end up in the 100$ + range. Let's not play stupid and follow Mr. Sheepherder Bill =P
