Posted on 03/23/2008 1:19:23 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Sony has begun offering Fresh Start, a controversial practice to clean its systems of unnecessary software. Initially available only with the VAIO TZ ultraportable, the option removes both VAIO-specific programs as well as games and other trial software. The practice is meant to "free up valuable hard drive space and conserve memory and processing power" before the system ever leaves the factory, according to Sony.
However, the offer has already received criticism for its $50 cost, which lifts the price of the system despite restoring the performance that would be present with a default installation of Windows. The practice has often led to unusually long boot times and slower systems and, in 2007, saw Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg referring to preloaded trial applications as "craplets" for their tendency to ruin a user's experience.
Sony has historically responded by noting that the inclusion of trial software helps subsidize the cost of the system, which would normally climb upwards with a clean system. The PC builder has also claimed that roughly one third of its buyers use at least some of the bundled trial software. However, rivals such as Dell have in recent months offered higher-end systems without such software by default, instead rolling any costs for a clean install into the normal system price.
Apple as well as a handful of other PC vendors have touted clean systems as a performance and feature advantage over more common challengers.
You pay them cash to stop them from doing something to you... Doesn’t this sound a bit like extortion... protection rackets? Where’s Rico when you need him...
Buy or build a clean system. Go Linux. Problem solved.
From Wired Magazine, that we cannot link to:
Responding to a tidal wave of outrage, Sony has reversed a plan to charge $50 to remove all the pre-installed applications — often derided as "bloatware" or "craplets" — from its high-end TZ-series notebooks.Earlier today, PC World reported that Sony would charge $50 for a configuration option called "Fresh Start," which would not include the bloatware. When contacted by Gadget Lab, a spokesperson for Sony said that the company will now remove that charge.
Cut and paste the following URL into the address bar of your browser so you can read the rest of the article without impermissably linking from FR... http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/sony-pay-an-ext.html
Or buy a Mac...
If you pay them $50, will Sony NOT install their usual rootkit on the machine?
If you think your Mac Os is secure-dream on.
Re: dreamin’ on
Let’s see ... 7 years, 30,000,000 OS X Mac users, zero viruses, zero spyware, zero adware, 1 hacker Black Hat contest break in that doesn’t achieve Root (after rules were loosened and with help through a 3rd party Java vulnerability), fewer than ten Trojans, OS X UNIX Certified, and now being deployed by the US Army because of OS X’s greater security, and I should be worried? Why?
I’ve been running my OSX Mac G5 tower for two years now without a firewall 24/7 constantly on DSL just to see what happens. No AV either. So far nothing has breached the Mac’s defenses. Let’s see a Windows machine do that.
Your opinion is based on what? Reading FUD?
They should include a card with instructions:
Run - Format C
Reinstall Windows.
Saved 50 bucks.
Try to get the disk from them and see what they charge.
Perhaps the $50 was to offset the loss of revenue when they do this. Just a thought.
I think you are exactly right. Sony knows the people buying their machines don't want that crap, to the point they are willing to pay $50 to get rid of it.
Why would they put stuff on the buyers don't want? Because they get paid to do it and likely paid again by the buyers remove it. I notice there is no option to not have it from the start. Think the refund the money from the uninstaller to the crapware vendors?
It's secure enough, especially compared to Windows. Most computer users would be better off tossing their PCs in the dumpster, and getting a Mac instead.
To be fair, the money they get from companies to put this crap on PC's is what subsidizes the deals they offer on new systems.
I myself always formatted any new system I got with a fresh version of Windows. Before I switched to Linux that is. (That's right, I'm one the usual crowd that shows up and says the same thing in every computer thread)
Macs are coming with any trial-ware on them?
No, they still install Windows.
Thank you folks, I'll be here all week, please tip your waitress!
Macs come with one or two pieces of trialware - but they’re not installed/embedded like the Windows stuff is.
Basically, they ship with the installers for AOL and QuickBooks, etc., on the hard drive - but the programs aren’t actually installed and they don’t come up on initial (or subsequent) startups.
And, last I looked, Macs only ship with three pieces of trialware, none of which, as I said, are actually installed.
We just recently bought two new Dells (with XP) thru Dell Outlet ... a Desktop, and a business class laptop. I was pleasantly surprised to find that both machines had absolutely NO CRAPWARE on them. ZIP, ZERO, NADA.
This is the first time I have ever bought new machines that did not have crapware. Usually, I just reformat as soon as I get a new machine, but it was unnecessary this time.
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