Today, Microsoft announced in a blog post that they will be dropping support for DVD playback from Windows 8. The only way new systems will ship with this ability is if the hardware manufacturers (OEMs) take on the cost, otherwise the end user takes on the cost.
WTF!?! was my initial reaction, as whilst we are slowly but surely moving toward an all-digital cloud-driven future, dropping support for a still popular and basic medium seems short sighted and cheap.
For a company which is floundering without much direction, this seems like yet another blow for Windows 8, which will henceforth be referred to as Vista II: This time It's personal.
By passing the option and cost onto OEMs, the consumer will see prices shoot up unnecessarily on kit that features an optical drive. I could see this decision making sense if it was only for the tablet version of Win8 or if the consumer would see any kind of benefit from this at all.
And what of Mr DIY PC who buys an OEM copy of Windows for his custom PC? Will Windows be cheaper to offset this extra cost? Oh hell no....
What of 3rd party programs/apps that rely on the OS to be able to play DVDs? Will VLC player function as a DVD player in spite of this? Or will it be the next in a long line of casualties of Microsoft ignorance?
If Windows 8 was exclusively for tablets, netbooks and ultrabooks, this would be a OK decision, but everyone will suffer from this ignorant choice.
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