Actually if it relied on the network, they would have no need to disable it, they would charge for it... but it doesn't rely on the network...
people slowly discovered this in the following thread:
http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/ppc-6...ta-6700-a.html
and here is the email:
http://cameronsayshey.19.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=52
which was answered by the UTStarcom PDA Coordinator
EDIT: If it were a matter of blaming microsoft for not being able to communicate with the chip, it would not be sprint's request to disable the natural abilities of the phone. besides, there are plenty of intelligent people that can write programs as good as MS.. and the thread goes through theories of it being network dependent, however they are able to get data directly from satalites without using the network.... quite a contradiction.
ANYWAYS despite the matter of GPS, the reply sadly states there will be no more updates....