XP: I Bet Microsoft Wishes it Would Just GO AWAY

Interesting piece on Slashdot.org saying that Dell will be offering Windows XP on new PCs past the June 30 cutoff. While this may sound bad on the surface, after all, WHO would want to use an old operating system, it really is good news. Why do I say that? It's quite simple really. Windows XP works, and as we mentioned a few days ago, Vista is still a work in progress. Dell gets this. They understand that most, if not all of their customers, don't want a system that half works or one that will need constant upgrades. They are simply listening to their customers and the market in general.
Microsoft probably has another take on this. They spent lots and lots of money building Vista, and people aren't adopting it as well as Microsoft would like. Perhaps now is the time Microsoft will start listening to their customer base and give them what they need and want, rather than what Microsoft wants to give them.
Here is a list of things I'd like to see Microsoft do to help us with Windows:
1) Lock down all ports not necessary to run the OS. They've done this with Windows Server 2008, which is a really good start, but should have been done a long time ago.
2) Get rid of Visual Basic Script. If you look at how many viruses are written in .vbs files, it's an alarming number.Removing support for VBS would be a great step toward securing Windows and making it more secure.
3) Remove IE from the OS, and separate it into a component that can be installed or not installed as desired. IE is OK as a browser, but shouldn't be imbedded into the Operating System. The OS should be as lean as possible, with modules that can be installed or not installed as desired. Perhaps a smaller, simpler version of Windows Explorer could be included in Windows as the shell, but IE be included as an option instead of a core component.
4) Better tools to keep Windows clean. Instead of giving us Media Player, IE, and other "fluff" applications as a part of the windows core, a really GOOD registry cleaner would be nice. Microsoft designed the Windows Registry. Who better to know how to keep it clean, than them? They could even embed registry cleaning into the shutdown process and make it transparent to the end user.
5) As much as I'd like to say quality virus and spyware protection, I can't. These are applications that need to update regularly and quickly. While many people write viruses for Windows, I think this space is better left to third parties like McAffee and Norton.
6) A workable firewall implementation. Current Windows firewalls, tend to err on the side of denying everything. Setting up a basic firewall that will allow outgoing requests while denying anything inbound shouldn't be that difficult.

Thoughts?