Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Windows!
A good friend of mine, Craig Froehle, posted to his blog today an entry regarding “What Should Be Included in an Operating System?“. In his entry he questions why certain applications are included in the OS and poses the idea that consumers should be afforded the option of purchasing an OS with fewer features for less money. It’s an interesting article, but from my perspective, I’m more concerned by the fact that certain applications are mandatory and integrated into the OS, more than the fact that I’m being charged extra for them. I don’t think having the option to purchase Windows XP without Internet Explorer (IE) would reduce the price by much, if at all, so I’m OK with the fact that it comes with XP. However I DO have a problem with the fact that IE is so tightly integrated into the OS and that I can’t remove it easily and neither will the average person given the complexity of the procedure.
Internet Explorer is not integral to the OS, yet I can’t easily remove it. Should a web browser be included with an Operating System? Yes, I think it should, however, it’s just a web browser and other than “desktop domination”, I cannot think of any valid reason why it should be integrated to the OS. Personally I don’t use Internet Explorer. I use Opera, or Firefox as my web browser because I find them better and more secure, yet I can’t remove IE (and all the security holes it enables) because it’s been integrated with the OS. Same thing with Outlook Express (OE). I’m stuck with those apps and they HAVE to be installed on my system. I don’t use either application, yet they remain firmly embedded in my install of Windows XP.