> Either it applies to the OS level or it doesn't, micropayments in software are something completely orthogonal and irrelevant to what Spolsky and this thread was talking about one way or the other.
You completely miss the point. Candy Crush was never an essential feature of the OS. If removing it will piss off some people such that they have to download it from the App Store, so be it (it is less reasonable to expect people to download individual features into a single app like excel - addons non withstanding). The micropayments comment is not about a feature but pointing out that its inclusion was nothing more than a cynical money grab.
Does Excel not provide other functionality and features even though it has a DRM licensing aspect? Of course it does as such an aspect being present doesn't dismiss everything else outright. The same is true for micropayments, that they are there does not dismiss the idea others could find the app (or games in general) a useful functionality in an OS to the point they would consider a core feature.
As an anecdote I've removed default apps while cleaning many PCs and gotten more pushback about CandyCrush being missing than Calculator. Regardless of how much more base utility I think Calculator provides personally it doesn't mean others don't find the same base value in an entertainment component, even if it has micropayments or other revenue streams built in or could be a click away in an app store (as any component could be anyways).
You completely miss the point. Candy Crush was never an essential feature of the OS. If removing it will piss off some people such that they have to download it from the App Store, so be it (it is less reasonable to expect people to download individual features into a single app like excel - addons non withstanding). The micropayments comment is not about a feature but pointing out that its inclusion was nothing more than a cynical money grab.