An interview with Brian Livingston
On Friday, September 8, 2000, I sat down with Brian Livingston at Boston's Union Oyster House,
the longest continually operating restaurant in America, to discuss Windows Millennium Edition
(Windows Me), Brian's new book (Windows Me Secrets), copyright issues,
and a recent press release, in which he
accused Microsoft of tying two products--Windows Media Player 7 and Windows Movie Maker--into
the new OS. As always, it was an interesting chat.
Paul: OK, what's up with this press release?
Brian: The very curious thing about Windows Me is that Microsoft does not allow people, when they install Windows Me, to choose not to install Media Player 7 and the Movie Maker. Once Windows Me is installed, there is also no apparent way to remove these programs through the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel or through any other application. They are hard-wired into Windows for absolutely no good reason. Because there is the ability now [thanks to a third party application] to add Media Player and Movie Maker to the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel, it's clear that Microsoft didn't have to make those programs non-removable for technical reasons. Microsoft has done this to ensure that users who get Windows Me on a new PC for the next umpteen years will have that software. Otherwise, Windows Media Player would have to compete with all that software out there that does streaming video and audio, and other multimedia products.
Let me ask you something. It sounds like
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