Why does Microsoft hate WebDAV?

Microsoft seem to be making a habit of producing a half baked, but mostly working implementation of a useful technology in a new version of Windows, and then progressively crippling in subsequent versions, until they finally remove it.

In this case – WebDAV – it actually worked pretty well in Windows ME, mostly worked in Win2k, kind of worked sometimes, if you didn’t mind spending an hour or two fighting with it in XP, and has been removed entirely from Vista.

All I want to do, is export my photos straight from my photo management software into Gallery. WebDAV would seem to be the technology that would enable that (and in fact does enable it on non Microsoft operating systems) – but unless I don’t mind making my gallery writeable to the whole world, it’s just not possible in Windows.
I can create an authenticated Web Folder OK, but that’s no good for anything but manual dragging and dropping. If I have to export to the local filesystem first, then drag and drop, then I may as well use a standalone WebDAV client.
I can mount a WebDAV folder as a drive – but only if it’s not authenticated. Surely the entire point of WebDAV implies that authentication would be expected?

I just get so tired of spending hours working on something only to discover that something that should work just doesn’t. And never did.