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Microsoft is Hamstringing themselves

Microsoft today announced that email, photo, and video programs will not be included out-of-the-box in the next release of Windows. Instead users will have the option to download, install, and sign up for an online account to use the web-connected “Live” equivalents.

Erm. So - with my new laptop PC in front of me, running snappy Windows 7, I pull the SD card out of my camera, plug it into the laptop, and… “open a folder to view files?” Yeessh - is that the killer Windows experience? Apple has excelled at creating “Cool!” Moments ™ where the execution of a simple action (plugging in a digital camera) generates a disproportionately awesome reaction - flying the picture open in a beautiful, fun to use, visually stunning gallery, and automatically downloading, tagging, organizing, and backing them up.

And now MS is taking a step away from these essential moments, and putting a download/install/signup layer in between users and whatever they seek to accomplish. Surely the antitrust conditions they labour under can’t be that stringent? Or MS so out of touch with the consumer mind that they think feature-stripped OS’s are a good thing? And why take out the experiences that people will be wowed by (i.e.: what happens when you plug in your camera) and invest all sorts of time revamping Paint and Wordpad? What sort of usage do Paint and Wordpad get compared to the number of people with digital cameras?

Then again, Technologizer thinks it is - that it will make W7 a cleaner, stabler, better OS. That it may, but a really great camera body without a lens isn’t much good for taking pictures and Jane/Joe PC just want things to work - like Apple ads have cultured them to expect.

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