You might want to read these articles before you make any judgments in 
favor of hailstorm. They are a bit long (especially the second one), but 
well written and informative.

http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2001/05/30/hailstorm.html
http://www.troubleshooters.com/tpromag/200104/200104.htm

Dave

On Thursday 31 May 2001 08:02, thus spake Joshua Jore:
> Heh. I think you're crazy. Or at least from my corporatist perspective,
> it's damn unlikely to switch OS platforms on anything beyond a seismic
> shift. I think MS is too PR savvy to shoot themselves in the foot that
> badly. Witness Hailstorm. That is some pretty neat technology. It just
> happens to leave the keys to the kingdom in MS's hand. If it turns out
> that really matters to the joe-user/joe-corporatist then maybe that's a
> bad move. If it doesn't rain on those users too much then it's not *too*
> bad.
>
> Josh
>

-- 
"Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit. (No 
fortification is such that it cannot be subdued with money."
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 B.C.