ATI Radeon 9700 Support? (NOT CRITICAL)

Hi everyone,
I dont know if you're going to shut this down as soon as you reed this Karsh44 because it is a little of topic, but can somebody tell me why the hell ATI decided to dis-continue thier 9700 series card? those cards were awsome, and IF they were still available today, they would make for yet more awsome value. With ATI cards recently being re-designed, specifically the 9500 series, which is now available in 9550, 9500XT, and with more RAM, will this event re-occur to the 9700 series? will we see more plain 9700, rather than 9700 PRO, or 9750 or 9700XT? I know this is a bit of a odd question, but Im just dying to know with the "a bit lower than expected results" of my new 9600 Pro.

Thanks guys

the 9700's are great cards. However, they were replaced by the 9800's. The price is about the same now between a 9700pro and 9800pro, and the 9800 performs better. The 9700 introduced ATI's (then) newest chip, which was improved on in the 9800's. There just isn't really a segment for the 9700 anymore.