Sony’s only removing crapware for business users

I’ve owned several Sony laptops in my day. There’s still a long-dead but gorgeous purple Vaio 505 laptop in the closet upstairs. And one thing I knew whenever I bought a new Sony was that I’d be spending my first hour or two with the new machine not having fun but removing and uninstalling all the useless garbage and trial applications that Sony stuffed in, presumably because they were getting paid cash to include the crapware. Blech.

So it was cool when they finally announced this year that they’d offer AN OPTION to sell you a PC without all the useless junk but you’d have to pay $50 for the privilege. Come on. Then in March, they said that they were dropping the fee. Thank goodness — you’d be able to buy a de-crapified laptop from Sony as long as you remembered to check a little box called “Fresh Start” when you ordered. Insulting to the customer — isn’t every brand new computer supposed to be in fresh start condition — but a huge improvement.

So imagine my surprise when I went to take a gander at the new ultraportable notebook Z line Sony just unveiled that include the new Centrino 2 chipset from Intel. The “fresh start” option is there but you can only get it if you order Windows Vista for Business, not with Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate. What the heck? Only business types deserve a PC free of crap? Why that’s just utter…crap.

Sony on uncraps laptops for business users

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Aaron Pressman

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Comments

6 responses to “Sony’s only removing crapware for business users”

  1. Justin Avatar
    Justin

    Typical Sony bullshit. One of the reasons I stay away from them.

  2. Nick Avatar
    Nick

    I know. They're one of the worst. I've spent hours cleaning my Vaio – at first, and then on reinstall. I've now passed it on to my niece. It's a fine machine and still running strong after a couple of years, but I'm glad to see the back of it. I hate that machine now, and that's partly owing to the time I've spent cleaning it. You'd think the PC vendors would wake up to the fact that Apple's eating their lunch – my own replacement laptop is a MacBook, actually – but apparently not.

    A little subsidy from the “trial software” sellers just isn't worth giving the user a bad experience. That can result in a lifetime's worth of lost sales, if you blacken your brand name by doing that.

  3. business directory Avatar
    business directory

    the privilege. Come on. Then in March, they said that they were dropping the fee. Thank goodness — you’d be able to buy a de-crapified laptop from Sony as long as you remembered to check a little box called “Fresh Start” when you ordered. Insulting to the customer — isn’t every brand new computer supposed to be in fresh start condition — but a huge improvement.

  4. games Avatar
    games

    This article I so true, keep on writing like this, enjoyment to read :) 914

  5. john doe Avatar
    john doe

    Sony are idiots. Plus they charge an extra $50 to “upgrade” from 62 bit Home Premium to 32 bit Business. Simply insane.

  6. john doe Avatar
    john doe

    Sony are idiots. Plus they charge an extra $50 to “upgrade” from 62 bit Home Premium to 32 bit Business. Simply insane.

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