[troels]

Microsoft, as evil as they may be, have always had a rather open eco system. Even when Windows was at its prime, you didn't have to get permission to develop or install applications on the platform.

[Vivtek]

True - I was responding to his assertion midway that if Windows had preempted a popular app, people would scream. It's just not true.

[kgreg80]

Remember when hordes of WinZip enthusiasts flooded messageboards with angry complaints after XP was released with that functionality built in? Neither do I.

[vacri]

Have you used the most recent WinZip? I had to install the demo to open a .zipx file that nothing I had would unzip. It's a little scary - they've gone quite markedly beyond what you would expect from a compression tool.

[william42]

It's the developers who flood with angry complaints. And yes, they did. It's called Netscape.

[simonbrown]

WP7 apps have to be approved.

[pornel]

Previous versions were open. I suspect AppStore has lead the way to this (proved that consumers are OK with this model).