, evildictaitor wrote

*snip*

Actually OEMs can (and many will) bundle DVD playing software. The announcement was that the shrink wrapped Windows8 won't (you can still search for "DVD player" in the AppStore if it worries you).

Read it properly. It wasn't about OEMs bundling PoweDVD, it was about OEMs licensing a version of a Windows SKU that didn't usually include the DVD codecs with the codecs. Why they can't says something similar to OEMs with Win8 is beyond me:

"If you're selling a PC with a DVD drive pay an extra $2 and we'll include the DVD codecs with Windows".

Yes, by bundling third party software OEM sold machines will still play DVDs, but I don't see how that's better than paying $2 extra for it to be included in Windows. That's just more software to confuse people, go wrong, get out of date and be sub-par.

And I'm really not sure the saved $2 is likely to result in a cheaper OS. At best it will result in the inclusion or development of something else. And if Windows is $2 cheaper than it would be otherwise that kind of figure is so low wrt. the cost of a PC that it will just get lost in all the other costs and line the pockets of Dell/HP/Sony etc. when people buy preinstalled PCs (i.e how "normal users" get their copies of Windows).