The new version of OE (now called Windows Mail) included with Windows
Vista adds that option. I think it should have been there all along,
and by default. It's a convenience feature though, since hitting the
down arrow does the same thing, but even in Vista, the default is to
leave the cursor at the top (Microsoft programmers can be SO stupid).
I don't know if Office 2007 fixes that setting or not, but in 2003
Outlook still top posts.

I switched from using Forte Agent to OE because it's much better at
organizing threads and it actually gives me more control over messages
but less customization of the interface. And since reading posts is
what it's all about, I had to go where the software worked. I didn't
really realize what I was missing until Vista came along and I played
with it for a few weeks. I now use Windows Mail or Outlook Express
almost exclusively for reading text groups.

When I tried out Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and openSUSE at the same time as
testing Vista, I had the chance to use Thunderbird. But like most
Linux programs, it's just way too far behind the basic competition to
be practical. There was nothing about Thunderbird, beyond the freeware
aspect, that attracted me. It was more like an old outdated version of
Agent with a klutzy interface than anything else.

Don't get me wrong, I'd really like to see Linux software catch up and
be competitive. But as it stands right now, Linux just doesn't have
what it takes to draw away Windows users at all. I'm hoping that will
change in the next couple of years, but if they don't get their
collective s#it together, Linux will never get any serious support or
contention in the mainstream desktop market. Which is sad, because I
like the idea of an open source operating system for everyone.