09/23/2008, 10:00am, EDT
Tuesday, September 23rdWindows 7 to drop e-mail, media editing apps
Microsoft will make many of its previously standard bundled apps optional with the launch of Windows 7, the company said late Monday. While Vista came with copies of Windows Mail, Movie Maker and Photo Gallery regardless of the edition, the sequel operating system will now remove those entirely and make available only downloadable versions that can tap into Windows Live. The company argues that the move will ensure a quicker turnaround for the launch of the next Windows version and that it lets Microsoft work with firms in the future to customize the experience.
No explanation is given for how this would work, though Microsoft in the aftermath of antitrust rulings has had to agree to deals which saw different web browsers and other apps replace its own in PC bundles.
The update also saves Microsoft the challenge of supporting two distinct but functionally equivalent apps in some cases.
Microsoft's acknowledgment of speed as an issue supports some as-yet tentative claims that the company is attempting to hurry the Windows 7 release for late 2009 or earlier as well as to avoid the years-long delay for Windows Vista. The company has officially penned in an early 2010 launch for the update but is also facing a hostile reaction to Vista from home and business users, both of whom have encountered early compatibility and performance issues that are believed to be hurting Microsoft's public image.
The company recently started a $300 million ad campaign that includes Jerry Seinfeld and other celebrities in a bid to drive Vista sales before Windows 7 arrives. Microsoft's most recent ad launches a minor attack on Apple's "Get a Mac" ads by claiming that they present an unfair stereotype of Windows users and their experience.
By contrast, Apple has typically had a relatively short release cycle of between one to two years for major operating system updates by splitting its iLife creative suite away from Mac OS X. The move lets the software developer ship updates to either program independently of one another, although Apple to date has made no plans to drop its e-mail application.
Filed under: industry, software, Apple
Other story tags: Microsoft, Vista
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MacNN?
Please explain to me why this news about a future release of Windows is on MacNN?
Because...
The people who read about Macs like to read about how Windows sucks.
Microsoft blowing it agai
Microsoft blowing it again. The new slogan will be Windows 7 now with less features than ever!
I don't think that's going to win over any existing Windows users. What's probably even worse is that they will still charge $400.00 for it!
No email program?
Yeah, who uses email anymore?
Seriously, this is going to confuse a lot of entry-level users and MS will probably botch the execution. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
man....
What is going on at Microsoft. This is laughable!!
Yay, no more Outlook
Given the (poor) quality of Outlook (or whatever Outlook Express is shipping as these days), and the presence of decent free third-party mail software for Windows, this can only be a good thing for the end users.
Work w/firms
"work with firms...to customize the experience" sounds an awful lot like "advertising supported" to me.
On the other hand, at the risk of saying something positive on these boards, if this means you can update your OS without being forced to update you mail and calender apps, and vice-versa, that might be a good option to have. It's something you can't really do with Apple because each version of the apps is so tightly dependent on the OS.
i agree MacNN...
please report Mac related News or change your name to something else.
Also is anyone surprised by Microsoft dropping features [even as basic as these] from it's "new" operating system?
XP is still rules
XP is still rules the roost insofar as running your PC. Vista was predicted to be a mess, and was. Very few want to use it and many reinstalled XP. HP is even working on it's own OS to get out from under Microsoft's incompetent thumb.
The corporate culture at MS blows. Witness thet ??? of an ad campaign. Windows 7 in late 2009? Don't get me wrong, MS's blunders are Apple's profits. When you go from XP to OSX it is like you've entered a science fiction movie, where you've gone from cave man days to the space age.
MS has been successful due to consumer ignorance, the copying of others ideas and the errors made by their competition, namely Apple.
This time around, Apple got it right. Consumers are not so easily duped. They've had it with the so-called MS user experience and are switching. It probably comes down to that ham-handed doofus Ballmer actually believing in his own product(Yeeesh), but he is providing Apple the opportunity to show the world that technology need not work against them. This time, the world is paying attention.
Smart move!
i think that's a smart move for M$. now in vista you will find windows mail, windows photo gallery and other stuff you can download the live services which is the same thing but with more feature.
the want to establish the windows live brand and their (software service).
i think its a very smart move