C++ support has always been quite strong in the games and OS divisions.<p>I would go so far as to bet it was the political C++ &#x2F; .NET divide that caused the Longhorn failure.<p>Also the Windows Vista victory that lead to the &quot;Going Native&quot; speechs, sponsoring C++ conferences, support for C++ on the kernel, AOT compilation to native of .NET code to mobile and the store and bringing back COM+ 2.0 renamed as WinRT.