> "When Windows 7 comes out, it won't include Windows Mail, Windows Photo > Gallery and Windows Movie Maker, which are some of Vista's most useful > applications."
Ed Bott explains this better @ http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=582: "Judging by the comments I've read and heard, many people mistakenly concluded that Microsoft is planning to deliver a suite of Internet-based applications in tandem with Windows 7. Here's what's really happening." Yep. This confused most of us, me included. " The Windows 7 versions of all these programs will be offered to Windows customers as individual options in a package collectively dubbed Windows Live Essentials. That doesn't mean they're going to be browser-based products. They're going to be traditional standalone Windows applications, with the crucial distinction that the primary delivery (and update) mechanism will be the Windows Live website. Each of these products has the capability to integrate with web-based Windows Live Services, but they'll work just fine on their own." OK, so why do this? If these apps aren't being moved to the cloud, then why do it at all? It doesn't sound like a good business decision to stupid up the final product like this. Ed continues: "Why the change? Blame it on the courts, which have significantly constrained what Microsoft can do with anything that's a part of Windows. By decoupling the programs from Windows and delivering them through Windows Live, the company avoids a whole host of legal issues. So, shortly after the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft moved development of those programs over to the Windows Live group, where they now exist as downloadable files." Ah, software development by judicial decree. Which, as we all know, is a 'best practice' development method. On Bizarro world. How's the weather there, Tom? ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
