This looks interesting...

The Microsoft.com Web Service is an XML Web service that will enable you to integrate information and services from MSDN, Technet, other Microsoft.com sites, and Microsoft Support. In order to serve as a test for our new architecture, Version 1.0 of the Microsoft.com Web Service is limited to providing information about top downloads from Microsoft.com. Future releases will build on this architecture to provide access to a broader variety of Microsoft content and services.

Unfortunately it looks somewhat limited now, but it could prove to be very interesting. My hope is that this the first step on the way to having VS.NET (and other tools) use the MSDN website as its integrated help system. We'll see.