Windows Live Installer Sucks The Big One

Every time I want to install Windows Live Messenger on a client’s computer, I am amazed by the ridiculous badness of their installer; you have to wait while it checks your whole PC for other Microsoft programs before it even starts downloading the Messenger itself. The install operation has never taken less than 20 minutes for me, and that was on a good day, with a fast connection and a new laptop. The slowest must have been getting on for an hour, with the client paying me and getting more and more frustrated that a simple instant messenger could be such a palava to install. I had to concur.

When will Microsoft realise that people just want things to be simple and if they wanted Windows Live Writer, Mail or any of the other bloatware they keep coming out with, then they would just download that and install it on its own. I installed both Yahoo Messenger and Picasa on the same laptop in less than half the time it has so far taken to install Windows Live Messenger.

Also it’s the presumption of Microsoft that you will willingly allow their software to scan your whole computer before you get their IM client- it really smacks of ‘all your base are belong to us’. This is why I use Ubuntu as my main OS and only go onto Windows when strictly necessary.

While I type this, the Live Messenger installer has been stuck on 99% downloaded for the last 10 minutes… total install time so far, over 20 minutes… roll on the revolution and make posts like this a thing of the past.

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