> on Windows you need to download support from the Microsoft store.

To be really fair, on Windows:

- H.264 is the only guaranteed (modern-ish) video codec (HEVC, VP9, AV1 is not built-in unless the device manufacturer bothered to do it)

- JPEG, GIF, and PNG are the only guaranteed (widely-used) image codecs (HEIF, AVIF, and JXL is also not built-in)

- MP3 and AAC are the only guaranteed (modern-ish) audio codecs (Opus is another module)

... and all of them are widely used when Windows 7 was released (before the modern codecs) so probably modules are now the modern Windows Method™ for codecs.

Note on pre-8 HEVC support: the codec (when not on VLC or other software bundling their own codecs) is often on that CyberLink Bluray player, not a built-in one.

> What's interesting is how YT has gradually shifted from being that neutral hosting service and into the media distributor role.

The correct answer here, rather disappointingly, is that they were never neutral. Google Videos (the one that Google actually launched) arguably is a neutral service, but YouTube was always designed to be a social media (even if that term is not as well-known at the time as it is now). It even had five star ratings, which as the style for its time. It is always closer to Instagram rather than Dropbox (although that's an anachronistic comparison since that YouTube was the first of the three).

StatCounter's data is known to be contaminated by bots: https://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share/desk...

I really hope that the sole reason that michaelt concluded this is simply due on not having any experience how to manage credit card payments (on merchant's side).

For those who does not handle these things: I am not sure on what processor Network Time Foundation is using, but Stripe's $15 fee is actually on the low side of chargebacks (some processors even use the fixed fee + percentage model). Worse, this is unconditional: if you somehow won this, you won't get the chargeback fee.

Possibly Twitch, Amazon Prime Video, and another one that escapes my mind (AWS-related?).