It's pretty darn bad, but that's not what bugs me. I'm not too fussed about the social interaction and things (mostly because I can ignore them), it'll just be a few (hundred) megabytes among the tens of thousands I use every month. I suppose the 3 minute wait is annoying but there will hopefully be a Bugfix or something that could be of use to me.
No, the thing that's beginning to annoy me with Microsoft is the way they're trying to force people using what they want. I'm not saying they should go as far as Linux, but I like my default browser to be Chrome (they force you to use IE on xp for updates), I like my search provider to be Google, my Antivirus to be what I want (though I willingly use MSE). They're not too bad at the moment (and I know the browser issue was addressed due to monopoly laws or somesuch), but I can forsee them being pretty bad in the future. They now no longer allow you to have your own apps with Windows mobile 7 (which wasn't the case in 6.5) which is a major issue for me. I might be forced to get one because of the course I'm on using XNA, but I like Android's option of having it disabled by default, and you can find the setting and enable it if you know what you're doing.
Shifting this back onto the right track it's what seems to be happening with Xbox live. I can't say I'm happy about paying for seperate accounts for me my girlfriend (and roommates come moving time), but I get that and I support them for it.
By the looks of it, in their dream you have to essentially use their search engine, their "currency", and I wouldn't be surprised if they pull an Apple and attempt to make us use their social network, which if they include in an "optional" windows update, could quickly take over facebook.
just my £3.42
I forget how rambling I get at this time in the morning.
