I don't know if any of that is true, either. But I'll say that Microsoft works for Microsoft, period. It does what's good for Microsoft, not what's good for its users, developers, or anyone else (as do most other big corporations - I'm not singling MS out for special treatment). So MS will do whatever it perceives to be in its best interests. If it thought it could keep the OS on the Internet, and force everyone to connect before being able to do anything (which, in fact, appears to be where it's trying to go), it will do it.

The upside of this is that, if enough people speak up, Microsoft can be influenced in its decisions as to what's best for it. If people let them know that they'll either not upgrade, or migrate to another platform, MS will do what it can to make those people just happy enough to stick with them.