And THIS is modded funny? Stay classy slashdot. But in reality Microsoft always asks when they want to collect some anonymous data and it's always opt-in. With Google they outright collect and you have to know where to opt-out (if you even can).

I think this is how operating systems will compete in the future. At one corner we have premium OS like Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows and at another corner we have free ad-supported lite OS like Ubuntu and Chrome OS. Those who want full suited OS will get the premium one and those who don't care about their privacy or workflow will get lite OS like Ubuntu.

This way everyone gets what they want and are (supposedly?) happy.

Developers should concentrate on creating software. There are already tons of tools that help with the install and configuration state of software. Use InstallShield and the various Visual Studio install and config helpers. Visual Studio itself has many debugger functions available, and there are tons of extra helper plugins if required.

Developers should use those and make sure users can install their software themselves.