I was just raising the flag on the use of "bootleg software" not that bootleg software was supported
I agree with sogarth that we are in the grey areas of this, but I'm of the mind that it's only because of the braindead model of software distribution used for Windows Mobile. If the OEMs were not in the loop, we could deal with MS directly.
I'd lean towards the 'major revision number == windows version' view, where WM5 is like XP (where you get free updates) and WM6 would be vista. You'd pay to upgrade to vista, and if MS offered me a rom image for WM6 for the same $60 (or whatever it is) OEM licence fee, I'd take it. It looks like WM6 can download updates, but they'd end up in your storage flash (so it seems) so that'd work for updating the odd dll or exe, but a major update would need a flash.
Heck, if they sold a kitchen for $60, with no redistribution rights, I'd take that