Are they serious?

Observed over at Paul Thurrott's Windows supersite:

There are apparently going to be 7 versions of Windows Vista. And that doesn't include the N versions for Europe (no media player). And, it doesn't include Server versions. I haven't read a lot of Paul Thurrott's stuff before, but I think he summarises it quite well:

The sheer number of Windows Vista versions is going to cause massive consumer confusion, and some of these versions will likely be orphaned after they prove to be targeting niche markets. That will lead to further migration confusion when the time to upgrade comes.

So, when you've just finished speccing your new Dell you get to the bit about choosing which OS you want. Just how many people will really know which one they want? Some will just turn off to get advice and (maybe) return another day. And when they find that the one they got doesn't have one feature they thought they were getting, just how will they feel?

I've seen comments on other sites which confirms that most people think this is just dumb.

I can understand the pressure a company is under when it has 90%+ of the market so can't really increase volumes by increasing market share. But I'd be surprised if the solution is to create more versions at higher prices (supposedly there will also be a higher end version of Office - yet 99.9% of people can't even understand/use most of the features today).

Is there anyone who thinks this is a GOOD idea?