Windows Live Messenger vs Google Talk
I got a new computer, and with it comes the hours of installing programs and configuration. Would you believe I had to download and install 92 Windows updates for a brand new computer (Dell).
Anyway, it’s interesting to compare the process of installing Windows Live Messenger to Google Talk.
Google Talk: Go to web page, download small installer, install it, default options are good, done.
Windows Live Messenger: Go to web page, unselect options to prevent MS from hijacking my homepage, installing their toolbar, changing my default search engine, and installing data collection software. Then download an installer, which first spends 10 minutes checking my computer for existing Windows Live programs (why the heck does it take so long?), and prompts me to also install a bunch of other unnecessary software like Writer, Mail, Toolbar (again!), Photo Gallery and Family Safety. Finally, it spends another 10 minutes downloading the massive Messenger program and installs it. Then I have to change some of the settings to prevent Windows Live Today from popping up every time I turn on my computer.
3 Comments
I actually had the same thing happen to me and discovered that I can use Windows Live Writer to write in my blog. I dont know about the others though.
It is an experience like that that makes me wonder whether the creators of Windows would build it differently if they were to start afresh today. I think that this is typical for installation of most Windows products because its creators forget that its primary purpose is different from their obsession with cutting out unauthorized copying and all else.
Same experience here: Google = easy and worth it, Windows = long, arduous, invasive and in the end i get so fed up that i remove it all from my computer, when will Microsoft learn? When will i learn that Microsoft won’t ever learn?