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It's astonishing to consider how dramatically Microsoft's strategy for
Windows has changed over the past decade. Ten years ago, Microsoft was
being sued by the US government for bundling so-called middleware
products in Windows, potentially harming competitors and consumers
alike. Many, myself included, questioned the strength of the software
giant's eventual antitrust settlement, but the ramifications of that
agreement don't just persist today; they in fact guide Microsoft's
product development in ways that few could have possibly foreseen. The
most obvious result of that settlement, in fact, is the Windows Live
Essentials suite, a collection of Windows applications that, a decade
ago, Microsoft thought nothing of bundling directly into the OS. Today,
they are free but separately acquired. As Windows users, we are all the
benefactors of that change. |
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