Seriously, the battery charging issue is entirely hardware related. The batteries are equipped with controls that determine the proper charge rate, battery life, etc. based on the battery manufacturers' specifications. The charger brick is merely an AC to DC transformer that is very simple in operation. There is no way, whatsoever, that an OS can unnaturally change this process. Obviously, as MS has disclosed, there has been a change in the way it's REPORTED.
Now, the conspiracy theory shouldn't be, "Win7 is killing my battery." It should be, "Win7 is telling me my battery needs replacement so much earlier than prior versions. Are they helping sell high-margin accessories for OEMs?"