Yes, most operating systems come bundled with these, plus mail, calendar, contacts, movie maker etc. But they aren’t a requirement, even in the loosest definition of an operating system.

An operating system allows user to access such applications, but the applications themselves are not “part of the operating system”, they are just there for customer convenience – that they don’t have to source such tools themselves.

And some of the tools, most people just don’t need. I’ve never needed any of the iLife applications on my iMac or their Windows equivalents.

I’d like to see Media Centre on the Live site though, because I generally need the Business version of Windows, but I still like to watch media on it, therefore I must currently upgrade all of my machines to Ultimate… :-S

I would much prefer a single version of Windows, with the ability to load from DVD or from the Microsoft sites the bits I need.