BOb,

>Considering all the books, webcasts, how-to's and such on it, I kinda did. Seems to me, if they are able to start showing users how to do some of this stuff...

I'm sure that several publication plans will change due to this schedule change.

>Well, I guess we'll have to wait a little longer.

Like you, I really was expecting 4th quarter, but I'm not surprised at the change, based on past major releases. A challenge like getting the CLR running fast enough inside SP's probably is just one of hundreds of technical hurdles involved in the final stages of a coordinated release like this, and I suspect that they're architecting in some features to better lay the groundwork for Longhorn, too.

Or maybe Ken or yag just had a bright idea that was so compelling that they put on the brakes to include it. :-)