Network cards are not new technology. While some of the new ones may provide larger buffers or encryption or VLANs, the basic underlying technology hasn't changed in decades. For Microsoft to build an OS that can't fire up a network card is bordering on idiocy.
They aren’t new technology but they do change in how they do things, and most importantly in how the OS accesses them. Heck there’s been at least one MAJOR change in network cards in the last seven years, that being that they frequently AREN’T cards any more. Most network cards now are integral to the motherboard, that would probably seriously change how the OS accesses the card which could be inhibiting XP.
We KNOW XP and Vista and every other MS OS does indeed ship with generic network card drivers. But apparently XPs 7 year old generic network card drivers didn’t like this one. Don’t expand a problem with 1 card into an overall lack, especially when that overall lack doesn’t exist.