Word seems to be filtering out about a move to a more modular core for Windows 7, with additional pieces layered on top.  Mary Jo Foley first wrote about it last week, with a hint at what’s to come for Windows Live:

One of my sources close to Microsoft recently told me that “major parts are being removed from Windows 7 (mail, photo, video)” but still will be available as user-selectable services. This plan, if it comes to pass, ought to help lessen the Windows attack surface that has been the target of various Microsoft competitors and antitrust regulators who’ve been critical of Microsoft bundling everything but the kitchen sink into Windows.

..and then Ken Fisher at Ars Technica expounded a bit, with a somewhat different take on what it will mean for users:

So, Windows 7 will be modular, but to an unknown degree. I personally expect the modularization to focus on value-adds, as did Anytime Upgrade on Vista. It allows Microsoft to draw lines between what is and isn’t “in” the OS for DoJ compliance issues. Whether it be Live Services, Windows Media Player, or even Internet Explorer, Microsoft could roll those into modules and then say, “Hey, look, that’s not part of Windows, we’re charging extra for that!” Foley says that she’s heard from sources that Microsoft is working on a Photo + Mail + Video module that would exist apart from the OS, for instance. I’ve heard less specific groupings myself.

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The software+services side of modularization is what is surely driving this change at Microsoft. As I argued last summer, this is all a critical piece of Microsoft’s software subscription dreams. In “2010, a ‘Windows 7’ software subscription odyssey,” I noted that Microsoft has been reinventing its approach to Windows in order to facilitate the continued sales of multiple levels of the Windows “experience.” Microsoft has confirmed that there will be multiple SKUs for Windows 7 and that there will be different subscription services built around the OS.

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