For anyone who's interested: Microsoft is offering a RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP on the Windows web site,

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/raw.mspx

The info blurb says it supports "most Canon and Nikon cameras" with RAW capability. Also, it is third party software, not supported by Microsoft. It might be worth a look for those who want to try an alternative to the proprietary software for their cameras.