re Un-installable bloat
I whole-heartedly agree! My biggest, longest lasting dislike about Windows, and most Microsoft software is bloat: anything installed that I did not ask for, do not want, do not need, and is not required for stable function of the OS/Software Package. I have never used, nor will ever use WMC, Windows Firewall, Outlook/Outlook Express, ... et cetera. They are wholly useless to me.
As such, installing such items that I do not use, and are not required by the OS for stable operation (I've forcefully removed them piece-by-piece with no stability issues) constitute bloat for me.
Microsoft needs to do just a few easy things to make an OS worthy of modern users hard-earned cash:
1) allow total control over what is/is not installed. If it is not 100% necessary for the OS to run, it's an option, period!
2) Support, or allow others to support, all available hardware. There is no reason why I have issues in addressing and recognition of my two-cpu mobo out of the box. I have 2 AMD 64X2 5200+ chips installed. They run wonderfully and are recognized and addressed properly in XP Media Center 2005; Why can't Vista see that there are four cores on two separate chips. That's not marketing and licensing, that's poor coding, and poor environmental awareness.
3) Allow support for non-windows media formats. It doesn't have to be in WMP 11, just allow Vista to install other software that includes DRM-Free software code. BSPlayer and WinAmp are both widely distributed, making up more than reportedly 70% of the most used media software across platforms, and almost 50% on Windows systems. Blocking this software from installing by default, and requiring extensive computer knowledge to install them, is also poor coding. Microsoft may like DRM, the vast majority of consumers the world-over don't. There is no law that states that legally purchased music in one platform may not ever be played in another. Microsoft is not God and Judge.
Fix those problems, and we're back on track.
