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Bundled apps

Posted on 13 Nov 2007 at 11:43

On the music front, Vista comes bundled with Windows Media Player 11. Its shiny interface lets you navigate through album covers, it synchronises with MP3 players, and it's a pretty impressive ripper of CDs. However, it's also a free download for XP.

Conclusion

We're now far less reliant on an operating system's bundled apps, with a feast of polished software available for free download: Thunderbird for email, Paint.NET for enhancing photos, Google Pack for pretty much anything (including an office suite). The list goes on.

XP - 3
In comparison to Vista, XP's bundled applications look dated and weak. The good news is that many of Vista's extras can be added to XP by simply downloading free programs.

Vista - 8
Some new programs are little more than the old ones with a sprinkling of fairy dust, others are genuinely impressive. Windows now finally rivals the software Apple bundles with new Macs.

As such, it's difficult to justify an upgrade to Windows Vista just because of the more polished apps, except that these products have been specifically designed to work with the operating system, and that upgrades (and patches) will be provided automatically via Windows Update. And, compared to XP, there's no disputing that Vista has the upper hand.

Main page
Usability and interface
Security
Gaming and entertainment
Mobility
Networking
Business
Bundled apps
Performance
Responsiveness
Conclusion