>But I felt I got hints with Win2K, and even more strongly with XP, that MS (Bill G.) was realizing that they had hit the wall with present quality/test methodologies and that changes were underway that will lead to far better accuracy/reliability/performance in the near future.
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I agree. Things were more straight forward when the paradigm "appeared" top-down. Today, PEMs and bindings allow hits from any direction. AI may offer some relief - but NI (natural intelligence:-), AWA the zany "artsy" nature of developers may mean that "bug free" is more of a spiritual quest than a tangible (obtainable) objective <g>.