>I simply don't believe Microsoft should be so desperate as to no longer supply proper versions of their old operating systems along with all patches that were applicable to them.
>
>

Reality is (agree with the purpose or not) that Microsoft does shut off support for obsolete systems (as most other vendors do). Whether it is just an economic justification (let's get users to upgrade every x years) or serious practical problems with dragging something along (DOS based windows has NO security and never was meant to), there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the obsolete systems. Putting yourself at risk supporting them is in my opinion very dangerous.