Not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, there was one Windows client, one Windows server and one Visual Studio.

Then Microsoft's begun to do a few one-offs: An XP Media Center release. A Visual Studio Team System release.

But we ain't seen nothing yet.

Microsoft is poised to roll a bunch of new Windows variants. Microsoft forecasters are expecting some sort of communications-oriented Windows client (Windows XP Call Center Edition?) release to go live some time over the next few months.

And on the server side, Microsoft already has laid the groundwork necessary to componentize Longhorn, so that server makers and their customers will be able to choose from a pick-list of sever roles when buying their software.

Now Microsoft says is embarking on a similar strategy with Windows Embedded. On Monday, the Redmondians announced Windows Embedded for Point of Service, the first of what will likely be a full family of verticalized versions of its operating system for ATMs, kiosks, medical systems and other devices.

While it's not on the near-term horizon, Microsoft's also actively exploring the idea of delivering verticalized versions of Visual Studio. Visual Studio for healthcare? Visual Studio for CRM-system development? It sounds like this is where things are headed, when you take Microsoft's concept of "Software Factories" to its logical conclusion.

Granted, these kinds of vertical Visual Studio bundles are still a long, long way off. Think post-"Orcas" wave, which, at last count, sounds like 2007+. But the Software Factory guys (a k a, Keith Short and Jack Greenfield) are "talking to the Orcas folks now about preconfiguring certain types of rich clients," Short, a member of the "Whitehorse" modeling team, told Microsoft Watch this past summer. And Microsoft has begun building a few software-factory pilots already in conjunction with partners, as well as customers.

Microsoft seemingly is expecting its vertical push will make the Good Ship Redmond easier to steer into smaller niches. But the Redmondians shouldn't underestimate the challenges of keeping lots of different code bases in synch — a task that the Windows XP Tablet and XP Media Center folks have been wrestling with, as they've folded their respective code changes and updates into the core Windows client base.

What do you think? Would a Windows Healthcare release be more appealing to medical-systems administrators than plain-vanilla Windows? Or are operating systems and tools more useful as open-ended, horizontal platforms? Do you expect Microsoft's competitors — IBM, Red Hat, Sun, Google, etc. — to follow suit here? (And, more importantly, should they?)

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