Wednesday, September 24th 2008
Talking to CNET, Microsoft has confirmed it will not be including any built-in programs for Email, Photo Editing and Movie Making. Instead the Windows Live Suite (found here) will be available to download if consumers still wish to use the relevant Microsoft Products.
Windows Live 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.

"It makes it much cleaner," Hall said.

Lastly, he said, making the Windows Live tools completely separate from the operating system paves the way for Microsoft to work selectively with specific partners.

"We can do things with specific partners to enable really great experiences that might be hard in Windows," Hall said.

Antitrust rules make it hard for Microsoft to tie operating system features to specific services.
Source: CNET
posted by alexp999 - 9:36 AM |  Related News

User comments
1 to 26 of 76 | Go to Page 1 2 3 4    Previous | Next
by lemonadesoda (10:02 AM) - Reply
... and to stop all these silly complaints and fines from the EU anti-competition quango.
by Nosada (10:15 AM) - Reply
... and the net result of those silly complaints and fines will be that system builders will STILL install that suite, people wont notice the difference (or care for that matter) and more polution, since I have no doubt there will be millions upon millions cd's/dvd's circulated with that suite on it. So you made absolutely no difference, caused more polution and made MS carry over the cost of those fines to its clients, costing everyone money ... great work EU-commissioners, glad I'm paying your overinflated, undeserved pay- and pensioncheques.
by FreedomEclipse (10:25 AM) - Reply
Huzzaaah i never used M$ outlook anyway it would also be cool if the O/S didnt come with ie also - a lot of people use other browsers other then ie anyway.
by InnocentCriminal (10:30 AM) - Reply
I'm with FreedomE 'ere, I've always hated all the bundled bloatware they've installed. So I'm all up for the fact they've stripped, 'bout bloody time! Hopefully IE won't be such an integral part this time as well. Hate IE.
by alexp999 (10:32 AM) - Reply
I'm glad its taken out. Much better! Used vlite on my last install and you cant actually take out Windows Mail from Vista without screwing up a load of core components! WTF! I use Outlook personally, I think its right that you should have a chance to choose your own software. I hate photo gallery, all I need is photoshop and as long as Windows 7 has a built in picture viewer, I will be happy.
by Triprift (10:42 AM) - Reply
get rid of paint huzzzzzzah that has to be one of the worst piece of software ever and photo gallery aint much better.
by Nosada (10:50 AM) - Reply
I came of a little too pro-MS in my last post I just realised. This is really a good thing, although for the wrong reasons. I'd really like MS to put out an "enthousiast" version of XP/Vista/7 with nothing but the bare minimum of software. Just a basic OS with directx. I'll download and install all the software I need myself, thank you.
by alexp999 (10:53 AM) - Reply
by: Nosada
I came of a little too pro-MS in my last post I just realised. This is really a good thing, although for the wrong reasons. I'd really like MS to put out an "enthousiast" version of XP/Vista/7 with nothing but the bare minimum of software. Just a basic OS with directx. I'll download and install all the software I need myself, thank you.
Thats why I use vlite ;)
by Triprift (10:56 AM) - Reply
by: Nosada
I came of a little too pro-MS in my last post I just realised. This is really a good thing, although for the wrong reasons. I'd really like MS to put out an "enthousiast" version of XP/Vista/7 with nothing but the bare minimum of software. Just a basic OS with directx. I'll download and install all the software I need myself, thank you.
Thats what looks like is going to happen with Windows 7 bar IE being there maybe.
by alexp999 (11:01 AM) - Reply
by: Triprift
Thats what looks like is going to happen with Windows 7 bar IE being there maybe.
All I want is Paint and IE7, they are the only progs I use that comes bundled with Vista. I think it needs to go back to how we used to install older versions of windows, like 95/98 . You could choose what stuff got installed during install, you should be able to do the same in Windows 7, hell you should have been able to do the same in XP/Vista!
by InnocentCriminal (11:08 AM) - Reply
Paint .Net is all I'll say. ;)
by Triprift (11:12 AM) - Reply
Yep that or Gimp both excellent proggies :toast:
by InnocentCriminal (11:14 AM) - Reply
I find Gimp quite hard to use tbh, it's a excellent program just wish it was simpler to use. I find Photoshop easier to use.
by Triprift (11:18 AM) - Reply
I agree with ya there love photoshop gimp & paint.net are the best free pic editing proggies imho.
by InnocentCriminal (11:25 AM) - Reply
Definitely!
by Analog_Manner (12:12 PM) - Reply
I just think its funny, looking back a decade. People would complain that windows didn't have a media player, so they included one. And then the same thing happened with the web browser, paint, calculator, movie maker, color control panel applet, slide show generator, image resizer, virtual desktop manager, and finally the clear type tuner. I think people don't realize one reason why Internet explorer is so integrated into the system is because the rendering engine is used in a lot of other places; like the control panel and the massive help file. And now they get bitched at for included things people will use. If I buy an operating system there are several things I would like to do right off the bat, none of which are to go download winamp and pretend I like it better than WMP. Or complain about mspaint.exe, which uses up a whole 335kb of space. There are people where I work that applaud Apple because of the editing programs that ship with the computer, but Microsoft isn't allowed to do the same thing. Security companies complain about the firewall, but we all know what people will say if it shipped without one. "What kind of POS is this? No media player, no firewall, can't look at pictures, can't go on the internet. Jesus I can't even play solitaire!" There is nothing stopping people from installing Paint.net, VLC, Irfanview, Notepad+, the Power Calculator, Trillian, WinRAR, or Firefox on their own after a windows install. +1 Funny for the antitrust rulings
by alexp999 (12:15 PM) - Reply
I think they need to make things optional when you install windows. And the firewall shouldnt be such an integral part of windows. But that reminds me, I would also like WMP kept, lol.
by PVTCaboose1337 (12:15 PM) - Reply
To quote a thread title I just saw: "Come and rejoice with me!"
by Homeless (12:19 PM) - Reply
Never used any of those, so I guess it doesn't affect me
by Disruptor4 (12:42 PM) - Reply
I guess this is a good thing. The only programs I use that come with windows are its media player, IE occasionally, paint and the "firewall". Oh and sometimes the games to pass the time.
by InnocentCriminal (12:47 PM) - Reply
by: Homeless
Never used any of those, so I guess it doesn't affect me
Well, it does to a degree I would have thought. It means you get back some of your HDD space as well as making Windows leaner which can only help towards making the OS better in the respects to stability, performance and the a-like as it's a few less things to go wrong or hinder anything.
by mdm-adph (1:09 PM) - Reply
by: Analog_Manner
I just think its funny, looking back a decade. People would complain that windows didn't have a media player, so they included one. And then the same thing happened with the web browser, paint, calculator, movie maker, color control panel applet, slide show generator, image resizer, virtual desktop manager, and finally the clear type tuner.
[needs citation] I don't remember people ever complaining about this. In fact, before IE, everybody used Mosaic and Netscape -- people were just fine without IE. I'm not saying that Microsoft doesn't deserve a part of the browser market, just that the argument that "IE needed to be included with Windows" isn't exactly true.
by: Analog_Manner
I think people don't realize one reason why Internet explorer is so integrated into the system is because the rendering engine is used in a lot of other places; like the control panel and the massive help file.
This is not a good thing -- IE is a web browser. It never should have been used for these things. To me, it's indicative of sloppy coding practicies.
by: Analog_Manner
And now they get bitched at for included things people will use. If I buy an operating system there are several things I would like to do right off the bat, none of which are to go download winamp and pretend I like it better than WMP. Or complain about mspaint.exe, which uses up a whole 335kb of space. There are people where I work that applaud Apple because of the editing programs that ship with the computer, but Microsoft isn't allowed to do the same thing. Security companies complain about the firewall, but we all know what people will say if it shipped without one. "What kind of POS is this? No media player, no firewall, can't look at pictures, can't go on the internet. Jesus I can't even play solitaire!" There is nothing stopping people from installing Paint.net, VLC, Irfanview, Notepad+, the Power Calculator, Trillian, WinRAR, or Firefox on their own after a windows install. +1 Funny for the antitrust rulings
I agree with some of your points here -- people are unnecessarily complaining about MS for the same things that they applaud Apple for. However, if it's Apple's iLife suite that you're talking about, isn't it possible to still get an Apple without it? Even if they do kind of push it on the consumer, it's still possible to get the MacOS without those programs. I wish MS would do the same thing -- I personally think the idea of "Windows Live Suite" featuring these programs would be a great idea. I wouldn't even mind if they kinda "pushed" it on you too -- for instance, when you first installed there'd be a few boxes or reminders or whatever to download it and install.
by Triprift (1:15 PM) - Reply
From Windows live i only use Hotmail the rest dont interest me.
by InnocentCriminal (1:19 PM) - Reply
Well said mdm-adph!
by Analog_Manner (1:41 PM) - Reply
I had no idea you could get the Macs without the software, thanks for clarifying. It's just that I think the antitrust rulings are kind of bogus, since bundled software is usually something that vendors like Dell take care of. It isn't like Microsoft specifically forces everyone to use their software. When I buy a new computer, it isn't Microsoft's stuff that I'm worried about. It's software that gets bundled that I don't like. Most of the time I don't even boot a new PC, I just pop in my install disk and format the damn thing.
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