quote:
Originally posted by emh:
So in other words, you don't mind Microsoft forcing computer companies to sell Windows and promote their software only? You don't mind Microsoft forcing computers to become obsolete just because they say so? You don't mind having one company call all the shots in computer design, web browsing, office software, and other areas? Microsoft is one huge illegal monopoly. If their software truly was the greatest, why do they feel the need to force Dell, HP, Gateway, etc. to sell computers with Windows, MS Office, and IE installed? If their software truly was the greatest, why do they have to make things like Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player essential to the operating system? Seems to be that it would have been far less trouble to just write them as separate applications. This anti-trust settlement was about preserving fair competition in the computer industry, not about going after a large company just because they were successful. Not everybody wants to use MS Office, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, among other things. This suit was brought about to make sure choice remains in the marketplace. If we allow Microsoft to be the only choice, we might as well be in the Soviet Union.
Having IE and WMP intergrated into the OS is a great idea if you ask me. Take for instance..compare Windows 98 to Win95 without IE4+plus the desktop enhancement. Without IE Windows 95 can't use gif, jpeg, jpg, png, etc. as a Wallpaper(it can only render bitmaps). Without IE you don't have those nifty lil back and forward navigation buttons for surfing Windows explorer, without IE you can't enable single clicking to open files, without IE you can't add wallpapers to different folder Window backgrounds, without IE you can't have an active desktop wallpaper(say for instance you want to have a news site or even something like this forum as your wallpaper you can see the updates, new news, new posts, etc. from your desktop). IE enhances Explorers' rendering capabilites big time. Don't most distros of Linux come with Konquerer and Mozilla? That is bundling a browser(s) with the OS too, so why don't you bitch about it? Doesn't KDE 3 use Konquerer as an explorer(like Windows+IE)? That is making the browser an intergrated part of the GUI...why don't you bitch about that?
WMP being intergrated into the OS allows for you to play music from folders without even having to open the full media player. Also, if you have tried WMP 9 on XP and Win9x/2K you would see that the enhancements that XP gives to Media Player from having it binded into the OS make it a much better product. In Win9x/2K you can't play quicktime media, VCD's, SVCDs, DVDs with WMP9 out of the box(you have to install extra codecs), you can't minimize WMP 9 to the taskbar and use it as a taskbar player in pre-Windows XP OSes. The taskbar player is an example of what can be accomplished when the software is part of the OS...it is binded to everything in the OS..even the taskbar and the taskbar player is the result of that intergration. Personally, I really like the taskbar player too because it is always there for the clicking no matter how many windows you have open and it doesn't clutter the desktop. If you have video playing in the taskbar player the little video Window always stays on top making it easy to watch videos and do other stuff at the same time. WMP looks terrible in Win9x/Win2K too(the XP skinning engine makes WMP 9 look alot cleaner and more modern). Don't most Linux distros come with XMMS installed by default...that is bundling a Media Player with the OS....why don't you bitch about that since it is soo bad?
I think the intergration is fine. It isn't like MS stops you from running other browsers and media players. If you are really worried about losing a whole 15MB of space from those apps being installed you need a larger hard drive.
Apple bundles Apple software with thier Mac OSes..why don't people bitch about that? You guys complain about shit that every other OS maker does. MS makes the Windows OS so MS has the right to bundle whatever MS software with thier OS that they want to bundle.
[ November 05, 2002: Message edited by: Zombie9920 ]