I recently had a roadmap meeting w/ HP/Compaq and they don't have any Unix planned for any Intel processor other than the Itanium (II). Somehow, it seems unlikely that Linux or one of the free BSDs will implement this, which leaves SCO and Solaris as, I think, the only remaining x86 Unix vendors. Solaris x86, while pulled from the fire, is likely to have even more limited hardware support than before, and who uses SCO?

So if your claim that .Net won't support it is true, it looks like it might end up being unused technology. Neat!