XNA sounds pretty cool, although I’ll confess to not really looking into it for now.
The reason being that the DirectX SDK (June 2006) that I am currently working with says this about XNA (from the dxreadme.txt).
Microsoft is working on a new managed gaming framework which will target Windows and Xbox 360 known as the XNA Framework. The majority of what exists today as the Managed DirectX 2.0 beta will become a key component of the XNA Framework. The MDX 2.0 libraries will remain unchanged as of the April 2006 SDK release and will continue to ship as a beta in DirectX SDK releases until a beta of the XNA Framework is made available. While we are striving to deliver a smooth transition from code written to use the Managed DirectX 2.0 beta, Microsoft can make no guarantees about the API compatibility between the Managed DirectX 2.0 beta and the upcoming graphics API’s in the XNA Framework. Microsoft will be providing guidance about the API differences as well as migration assistance as more information becomes available regarding the XNA Framework.
Confused? We’re up to DirectX 9.0c aren’t we? Well yes, but “DirectX 2.0″ is actually a whole different beast. I have limited understanding of it, but I believe that it is like a whole brand new API, and very much in the Beta stage.
All pretty useless information anyway since DirectX 2.0 is no more!
Read this from “The Z Buffer”.
So XNA is definately coming, but at this stage I’m not really focusing on it for my work in progress!!! 
p.s. I realise a new DirectX SDK was released in August. I haven’t bothered with it since there were apparently no changes made to the Managed wrapper. Perhaps it says more about XNA, so I’ll look into that.