Under pressure from angry customers, HP began sending out CDs in late December.
THE point is, no government force or new laws were necessary to get HP to do what was right by it's own customers...
No new laws making manufacturers send out recovery disks were necessary...
No new antitrust legislation was called for...
The free market did it's job. Through customer complaints HP changed it's policy to the betterment of the individual customer...
It is essential that the American sheeple somehow learn that the free market will always correct problems faster, better and cheaper than any government agency could ever dream of...
There are a couple of parts to the problem. It used to be you'd get a CD with the full OS on it, in the case you needed to add files or install a new hard drive. Microsoft felt that this led to piracy, so they no longer allow those OS CDs to be shipped with computers. The manufacturer has the choice of creating a Recovery CD (branded to the computer) or a Recovery Image (hidden on the hard drive), but both of those solutions have some problems.
Check out these links:
Readers decry Microsoft policy of withholding operating system CD
I can't speak about all the other PC makers; however, I recieved a brand spanking new Dell 4300 with every light, buzzer & bell ya can get including an amazing 17" flat panel LCD screen as a gift.
The whole shebang came with Windows XP preinstalled, and a Windows XP recovery disk; also included was the Roxio CD R/W disc, uSoft Encarta w/ Works Suite 2001, Sound Blaster & all the other software found on the machine to include a CD with nothing but drivers.
Now I'd owned a Compaq Presario prior to this, & the PURE grief, the give-a-damn attitude of Compaq's people when I spoke with 'em in the past?
Made the choice of a Dell an easy one; a virtual no-brainer.
...btw: since HP *is* now Compaq they were out of the running from the get-go as birds of the feather...