Finally: Microsoft strips email, photo, etc. programs from Windows

[madmatt]

Microsoft has decided that Windows 7 won't include built-in programs for e-mail, photo editing, and movie making, as was done with Windows Vista, CNET News.com has learned.

The software maker included Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, and Windows Movie Maker as part of Vista, but later chose to offer separate downloadable Windows Live programs that essentially replaced those components with versions that could connect to online services from Microsoft and others.

Microsoft told CNET News late Monday that it has decided to remove those features entirely from Windows 7 and instead offer only the service-connected Windows Live versions as optional free downloads. Earlier on Monday, Microsoft had declined to say how it was handling things.

In a follow-up interview on Monday, Windows Vista general manager Brian Hall said Microsoft made the decision to remove the tools from Windows for several reasons, including a desire to issue new operating system releases more quickly than it has in the past. The move also removes the confusion of offering and supporting two different programs that perform essentially similar functions.

My favorite quote:

"It makes it much cleaner," Hall said.

DUH!

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10048142-56.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.0

 

[Mainframeguy]

But will they use this as a mechanism to charge more for less... and presumably their media centre offering might be repriced as a result? It was quite handy as a cheaper offering occasionally if I wanted to shave a few quid off the cost of a system....

 

[madmatt]

The Windows Live Suite (Mail, Photo Gallery, etc.) is free of charge.

 

[fitz]

why not unbundle IE then?

 

[epk]

well.. how would u get firefox or opera without ie?

 

[LordOfLA]

telnet

You can type HTTP protocol commands manually and then copy/paste to a file in notepad

 

[epk]

of course!.. silly me




hehe

 

[ming]

why not unbundle IE then?

You will probably lose Windows Explorer in the process.

 

[fitz]

bah.. i'll just unbundle windows and run linux or BSD

 

[X-Istence]

Eh, why strip the mail client?

If they rebuilt the mail client to not be ass-craptic like Outhouse Express then maybe people would use it. (I have not used the new Windows Mail in case you can't figure that out!)

 

[gonaads]

Cleaner my ass, just more stuff to sell separately.

 

[zeke_mo]

The only "extra" software I ever use in windows is movie maker, even that can be easily replaced. Good move though, less crap, more focus on performance and reliability.

 

[Geffy]

I think you need a stock browser, mail client and basic image viewer. At the very least those bits should be in there. Photo editing, movies and such yeah that could be better as an optional install item or downloadable, just hope they don't slap the standard MS price tag on it.

 

[Johnny]

I never used windows mail. But I like the idea of not including what was mentioned in windows7, except the mail client (I agree with geffy) -It will make it cleaner if you think about it.

 

[LeeJend]

What a farce. The resellers will automatically install the Windows Live stuff so nothing gets removed. What it does present is an opportunity for people to buy computers with (windows) application compatibility issues.

I predict a major glitch in the Windows 7 release over this move.

That said I applaude any leaning or the OS. App's and the OS should not be joined at the hip the way M$ did it back in the 90's to kill their competition.

Note - reading between the lines... They have encountered major security and / or stability issues with the deleted aplications. Do not be surprised if the code is still present in the release, just disabled. Then the black hats will find a way to re-enable and exploit the unstable dormant code. Paranoid, yes based on 53 years of experience.