I am about to be OBSOLETE

I am currently running Windows XP on my PC. I was hoping that now that I have put XP(I used to have Win2k 14 days ago) I will have the latest OS and will be able to run all the new softwares that my processor will be able to support. But while I was browsing through the Microsoft website I saw that on 10^th October 2006 Windows XP which is not running Service Pack 2 will becom obsolete and the newsoftware releases will not run on WinXP.

I ask - Why this specific Date? Already all there new software like Windows Media Player 10 and Internet Explorer 7 though still in the BETA stage will only function in SP2. I am pretty sure that they will unBETAfy all these softwares on 11 or 10 October. Now I will have to find the Service Pack 2 CD from somewhere. Even though it is free if you want to get it from Microsoft itself you need to pay Rs.450 for shipping. I am pretty sure that by the time I wil get SP2 it too will become obsolete and everyone will start using Vista.