Digital Home Thoughts: Windows 7 Will Drop Email, Photo, and Video Programs

"Microsoft has decided that Windows 7 won't include built-in programs for e-mail, photo editing, and movie making, as was done with Windows Vista, CNET News.com has learned. The software maker included Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, and Windows Movie Maker as part of Vista, but later chose to offer separate downloadable Windows Live programs that essentially replaced those components with versions that could connect to online services from Microsoft and others. Microsoft told CNET News late Monday that it has decided to remove those features entirely from Windows 7 and instead offer only the service-connected Windows Live versions as optional free downloads. Earlier on Monday, Microsoft had declined to say how it was handling things."

This is risky business for Microsoft. Why? Because there are a lot of Windows users that don't install extra software on thier PC - many people I know use whatever came with their computer, regardless of whether or not there's something better out there for them. Every Apple computer ships with iLife, and now every Windows 7 computer will ship with...nothing? Or perhaps we'll see every OEM select their own email, photo, and video solution - thus creating an even more fragmented PC landscape. That's not a good solution either. I have a slim hope that Microsoft will be able to encourage OEMs to bundle the complete suite of Windows Live products with each computer they ship, or perhaps offer some sort of easy download option...but I still see this as being problematic on a number of levels. What do you think?