3 ms·

Not a criticism per se, but when I saw the title of this post, I had a "Lisa Simpson Moment:" I know what each of these words means, but when you put them toget

Not a criticism per se, but when I saw the title of this post, I had a "Lisa Simpson Moment:" I know what each of these words means, but when you put them together... Windows, Live, Essentials, 2011, Out. I hope I get it now. Windows is the OS, Windows Live is not the OS but "The collective brand name for a set of services and software products from Microsoft", Windows Live Essentials is "A suite of freeware applications by Microsoft which aims to offer integrated and bundled e-mail, instant messaging, photo-sharing, blog publishing, security services and other Windows Live entities." and Windows Live Essentials 2011 is a release of Windows Live Essentials, so Windows Live Essentials 2011 out means that: The 2011 release of "A suite of freeware applications by Microsoft which aims to offer integrated and bundled e-mail, instant messaging, photo-sharing, blog publishing, security services and other entities that are part of a set of services and software products from Microsoft that are branded to tie in with the OS" has been released. The way that each word in "Windows Live Essentials 2011" segments the brand neatly from left to right makes it feel like it was designed by a marketing ontologist who sees everything as part of a great pyramid of brands and expects customers to view everything in the same way and not as individual products with their own identities.

thwarted 16y ago
There has to be a word better than "Essentials" for Microsoft to use in this branding context. Because all I can think about is how, if these things are what Microsoft considers "essential", are they not included in the base install.
- juxtaposition 16y ago
  The reason for excluding essential services is because including them leads to monopoly accusations. In many countries it is illegal to ship Windows with IE preinstalled and set as the default browser. Instead, new copies of Windows offer a download window which asks you if you want to install IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Opera. Personally, I think this is insane.
  - xpaulbettsx 16y ago
    That and it means that Windows Live Essentials isn't tied to the Windows OS release schedule so they can update it more often.
    - thwarted 16y ago
      Isn't the release schedule for Windows OS updates once a month (on a Tuesday, I believe)?
seltzered 16y ago
What's really confusing is that I used to see both "Windows Live Photo" (a hyperlink to the live photo website) AND "Windows Live Photo Gallery" (opened the application)

thwarted 16y ago

There has to be a word better than "Essentials" for Microsoft to use in this branding context. Because all I can think about is how, if these things are what Microsoft considers "essential", are they not included in the base install.

juxtaposition 16y ago
The reason for excluding essential services is because including them leads to monopoly accusations. In many countries it is illegal to ship Windows with IE preinstalled and set as the default browser. Instead, new copies of Windows offer a download window which asks you if you want to install IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Opera. Personally, I think this is insane.
- xpaulbettsx 16y ago
  That and it means that Windows Live Essentials isn't tied to the Windows OS release schedule so they can update it more often.
  - thwarted 16y ago
    Isn't the release schedule for Windows OS updates once a month (on a Tuesday, I believe)?

seltzered 16y ago

What's really confusing is that I used to see both "Windows Live Photo" (a hyperlink to the live photo website) AND "Windows Live Photo Gallery" (opened the application)