Live OneCare mostly bombed out because you had to pay for it—Morro is free, and if it's good enough to protect people against the most common nastyware, who's gonna dish out 40 bucks to Symantec for the latest Norton? People like cheap stuff if it's good, but free stuff even better if it's decent—so it's highly amusing to hear Symantec's Consumer division president Janice Chaffin crowing to Reuters that "a full Internet security suite is what consumers require today to stay fully protected."

The one real saving grace for antivirus software makers is that Microsoft isn't bundling Morro with Windows—probably only because they can't, what with the constant threat of antitrust issues that in part led them to yank other native apps out of the OS. I'd argue that security is a pretty fundamental component of an OS, so if there's any app Microsoft should be allowed to bundle, it's security software.

Maybe it is better this way—you'll be able to download it for free if you really want it, like other Windows Live apps. But then I wonder if a bundled Morro could've saved Adam, so we'd still have one more cranky Windows guy in the world. [Reuters]

Or, if you want the quick and dirty, here's what unfurled in front of me, give or take a few guest presenters and some marketingspeak:

Ballmer comes out—my guess is he's smiling. He talks about the wonderful world of consumer electronics. He mentions this company called Microsoft. He also mentions the tough economic times we're all going to suffer through together. He will be optimistic, however.

He's going to talk about Windows 7. First, he'll announce the availability the Windows 7 Beta tomorrow for registered Microsoft beta peeps, January 9th for everybody else. He'll run through a lot of stuff we've already seen on Win 7, like DeviceStage, Homegroup networking, "Play To..." and other coolness like the Win 7 touch interface.

On the Windows Live front, he'll tell us that Windows Live Essentials is no longer in beta, and that you can now post photos on Facebook directly from Windows Live Photo Gallery, and save photos from Facebook directly to your Win gallery too. He'll also say that Windows Live Search and Essentials toolbar is gonna boot Google from Dell computers in February. Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless is going to implement Windows Live on VZW feature phones. IE8 is not out of beta yet, but it's coming.

For Windows Mobile, the big news, as presumed, will be full Adobe Flash support in the browser. (Sounds good to me, if only the browser was as good as, well, others.)

Ballmer is going to call Robbie Bach to the stage to talk about connected entertainment. Bach will start with some good Xbox stats—28 million worldwide, with 17 million active Windows Live members, and over a billion dollars spent on the service since inception.

Bach will introduce a number of sweet products:
• Windows Mobile app for managing Netflix queue
• Xbox Live community game builder called Kodu (already buzzed about)
• Windows Media Extender functionality in Toshiba products (announced earlier today)
• The latest edition of Ford Sync, which you can read about here
• Go back and forth on shows you didn't pre-record using Microsoft Media Room Anytime (I wonder what the advertiser stipulations are on that)
• Already known games Halo Wars and Halo 3: Orbital Drop Shock Trooper
• Xbox Live Primetime game 1 Vs 100 live gameshow coming in spring

What, no love for Zune? Almost everything's going according to plan so far, but stay tuned, because anything could happen. You know, come to think of it, Robbie Bach got to talk about a lot of the fun stuff. Is this the kickoff of the Ballmer Years? Or is it really the kickoff to the Bach Years? Steve would probably win at arm wrestling, but seeing the two of them on stage, I'm starting to think Bach could maybe take the bossman in a Cool Hand Luke-style a fist fight. [Full CES 2009 Coverage]

Whether this move to separate once native apps from the OS is really about speed, antitrust woes, or a desire to reduce development bugs is open for debate. Whatever the reason, the move does make some sense. Most of these client apps are already online anyway. It also makes it easier for Microsoft to focus on major native apps for the OS. [CNET via Electronista]

It also talks about lofty goals like making his for "individuals around the world, designed to help them stay connected...and protected." We read this as forcing people to onto an online system so lousily managed that, according to their own employees, Microsoft has to go and buy Yahoo in order to fix it. [ZDNet]

Lifted from Vwag:

•Office-productivity software that can be had for $119 at Amazon.com, but is likely already installed on a user's computer.

•A "collaboration" service most home users will have no need for

•Windows Live OneCare, a PC-security and maintenance service which Microsoft already sells as a subscription

•Three Web services Microsoft already offers for free

It is all pretty fresh so yourname@live.com may still be available, unless your name is Haroon and you opt for an @live.co.uk domain, instead. Get your dirty mitts on a new account while the good ones are still going. Wow, I got through a whole Windows post without a snide comment... Windows Live desktop package kinda sucks. I feel better. [Windows Live Desktop Package, Windows Live Hotmail via Inquirer]

There's a bright side, however, as current Xbox Live Gold members will have "automatic" access to Windows Live. Somehow sticking you twice for just about the same service seemed a bit over the top, even for Microsoft. – Jason Chen

Microsoft Unites Xbox and PC Gamers With Debut of Games for Windows — LIVE [Gamerscoreblog via Kotaku]

Code named "Orbit", this project is still beta and thus, still flakey. If you want to try it out, you can sign up for the here. All you need is a Live account, Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate, and a mouse, keyboard or remote. There's little practical use for this—why not just use a computer—but makes for a neat plugin for people who enjoy social networking in the living room. Weirdos. – Jason Chen

Nemo surfaces! Windows Live for TV in the wild [Liveside via PVRWire]