Some of these 3rd party utilities are better to be made by 3rd parties that ONLY make software in these areas. MS can concentrate on making the best OS possible. Most of the time 3rd party apps are just better. I use 3rd party email. They are both MS Outlook and Live Mail but not part of the OS. I have been using 3rd party video players for awhile and you can do things like change aspect ration and extend to full screen without distorting. I have been using Itunes for music for awhile also but that could change.