Posted on 01/10/2002 6:46:47 AM PST by colette_g
Angry Hewlett-Packard customers have forced the computer manufacturer into a U-turn after it scrapped recovery disks for its latest range of Pavilion PCs.
HP ditched the standard backup CDs in favour of installing Windows XP recovery files on a partition on the hard drive, prompting scores of users to complain.
Customers posted irate messages on HP's technical support site and bombarded the manufacturer with phone calls demanding to be sent the disks.
One customer wrote: "I really think that HP is putting out a raw deal when you buy their new XP systems and you don't get any recovery CDs. What happens if the warranty runs out and the hard drive physically dies?"
Another Pavilion customer returned her machine in disgust. "One person from [HP] support said I would have to purchase a retail version of XP if my hard drive failed. Another said I could purchase a hard drive from HP with XP preinstalled, but could not tell me how much it would cost," she wrote.
Customers complained that the move could jeopardise recovery following damage to the hard drive and would also prevent deliberate partitioning of the drive to add a second OS like Linux.
According to HP's product description recovery CDs are included in the Pavilion package. But when silicon.com reader, Ian Rowe, contacted HP he was initially told that CDs for the model did not exist.
An email from customer support told him: "HP recommends that you do not replace the hard disk as it is preloaded with Windows XP. The operating system will be lost if the hard disk is replaced. If you further wish to replace the hard disk, please purchase a retail version of Windows XP from your reseller and install it on the new hard drive."
Rowe told silicon.com: "From the moment I bought the PC, to the current time, it is not mentioned that you will not be able to upgrade the hard disk in the PC. Certainly nothing in any agreement that states that I am not entitled to do so without purchasing a new copy of XP."
Contrary to HP's advice, Microsoft claims that even if XP recovery files on the hard drive are damaged or lost, the company can use its authentication technology to identify legitimate users and replace the OS for free.
Under pressure from angry customers, HP began sending out CDs in late December. But according to a spokeswoman for HP UK, recovery disks will only be provided for customers who complain and will still not be included with the original PC.
"The recovery data is now stored on the hard drive, and you're not usually going to lose the hard drive if it crashes," she said.
But this explanation is unlikely to pacify angry customers.
"I bought HP because they stood for quality and getting a good piece of equipment for the value," one Pavilion user wrote on HP's message board. "When cutting corners like this starts affecting the morale and attitude of customers, then nobody wins."
Have you had problems with HP? Or recovering Windows XP? Let us know by posting a reader comment below or emailing editorial@silicon.com
Be ashamed ;-) With your background you should be building your own boxes, not buying 'em off the shelf. It ain't rocket science and eliminates all the proprietary sh*t that you get from the HP's and Compaqs of the world.
First Microsoft DOS built itself on the back of the IBM hardware and it's software apps base.
Microsoft DOS didn't make it big by porting is OS to other hardware platform did they?
The formula in the PC boom was Microsoft software (DOS) IBM firmware(BIOS) & Intel hardware(X86 cpu) and IBM was the big boy that made the PC the standard.
Other then back engineer the IBM bios with small changes so they could win in court that they were not violating IBM's copyright (The fact that IBM was the big bad guy at the time is,in my opinion, the reason they lost)
Did Bill Gates cry over this.. Hell no..(nor should he) The IBM BIOS his OS ran on had become public domain by court order.
Unless this happen there would be no Compaq, Corona, or any other IBM clones for his non-exclusively licensed OS to run on.
Now he could have try to port his OS to other hardware platform but then he would not have that nice big base of app for IBM to run
Microsoft is in the place it is today in good part because IBM's BIOS was "pirated" and the court let it stand.
</satire>
I installed XP for the kid of a friend. No more Visioneer One Touch scanner. The Microsoft spammers around here are about to make me puke.
If a certain brand of stereo receiver or television shut down pending "reauthentication" of the purchasing agreement whenever a consumer added new components, i.e. DVD player or cable box, would "real people" who work for a living let the manufacturer get away with it? Why should we tolerate this for our computer? Especially if we've come to depend on it as an everyday appliance, as you argue?
Rarely on FR do we have the benefit of people arguing in favor of ignorance.
Wow, did you even bother reading my post? You managed to pick out one sentence, out of context, and then say that I'm "arguing in favor of ignorance?" Are you a charter member of DU?
I responded to someone complaining about how the "geeks" and "techs" were always going on and on about what the best OS happens to be... In a business setting, the users have NO choice in the matter. In many cases, management (and not necessarily the IS/IT management) makes these decisions. The relative pros and cons don't matter to the users. They just want to do their jobs. Most people don't care about how their computers work, as long as they allow them to do their jobs. Again, the issue here was in business.
Mark
Assuming MS has served this purpose, "it's time for them to go."
Under pressure from angry customers, HP began sending out CDs in late December.
LOL! The MOST important point of this article is that HP has further screwed the consumer.
It used to be that you would get a set of operating system installation disks so you could reinstall the OS without DESTROYING your data. Then came the "restore" CD which would restore your OS and initial apps but also destroy anything you had installed later and your data (hope you did a complete backup of your applications and data) when it partitioned your harddrive and then placed a "ghost" image on the disk.
Further destroying your claim that the free market corrects itself, HP is only doing this for those who are knowledgeable enough about their computer to complain. Notice the article says HP still isn't providing the restore CDs in their new computers. Bet they don't do anything for those who don't complain and when their computer comes out of warrantee and they need the restore CDs, HP tells them to buy a copy of the OS.
[snip]
Let me guess: you live(d) in Boca, your life was going just fine until whatsisname died in that plane crash in Dallas before they had wind-shear warning systems, and instead of blaming Big Blue for dropping the ball at that point, you blame Uncle Bill???
Get a life.
PS: the IBM BIOS never became public domain, and it was never commercially "pirated" other than during Columbia's very brief chutzpah-moment, so please spare us the hyperbole. Man, I take a nap and this jernt turns into a complete nut house.
Oh, and by the way -- quite a few of the first-gen/third-party systems were barely "IBM compatible" at all. They had proprietary buses, proprietary builds of MSDOS, and proprietary BIOSes. One of the early platforms MS used to develop Windows was the Tandy 2000, which was about as incompatible as you can get -- about the only "compatible" thing about it was its ability to run only the most generic software, once it was (somehow) copied to its oddball floppy disc format.
When I was an authorized WordPerfect dealer, during the 4.x days, they had umpteen platforms to support, and it was costing 'em an arm and a leg. When they came out with 5.0, they dropped support for the vast majority of the non-mainstream platforms, just like the rest of the market was doing. Why? Because thanks to the standard established by Microsoft's OS, and the availability of generic computers, the splinter platforms died on the vine, and support became an increasingly heavy burden with no real payoff.
Now, when I pause typing, I can hear your synapses crackling, accompanied by the gentle "whoosh-whush" of your blood pressure emulating the sound of the seashore. So please, let me take this opportunity to remind you of who one of the biggest beneficiaries of this standardization turned out to be: your much-vaunted IBM.
That's right -- the rising water lifted all boats, including IBM's -- even though their marketing "geniuses" did everything in their power to fight the trend tooth and nail (i.e., the proprietary "PS/2" fiasco).
IBM was a huge beneficiary of the standardized architecture, itself made possible by the availability of a standardized operating system.
But even so, things didn't really take off until Windows hit the scene.
But a great entertainer, no? :)
Why would anyone pirate copies of the Mac OS? I mean, what would they do with the copies besides use the CDs as coasters?
It would be the high tech equivalent to stealing some of the left-hand-thread lightbulbs from the NYC subway platforms.
Why do I have the nagging suspicion that many of the same people who whine about not being able to pirate Windows have the same wrath for the NY Subway system, for exactly the same reason?
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