"Yesterday my desktop died, and so I went ahead and got a brand new Windows 8 laptop. It's always been my feeling that as years go on, user experience has been going down for people who use a computer and the Internet, because of decisions all companies make that are clearly anti-user, either because they think they know best, or in many cases, for financial gains. But from spending all night reinstalling everything and customizing the laptop, I realized just how bad it has become." Probably the biggest reason to go Mac or Linux. Such a shame Microsoft found it more important to pressure OEMs into silly Secure Boot nonsense instead of doing something about the anti-user crapware disaster. Goes to show who Microsoft cares about. Hint: it ain't you.
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Member since:2005-07-28
And you are totally missing the point in this whole argument. Why in hell should be have to pay extra at the Microsoft store to get crap removed that shouldn't have ever been on the computer to begin with!!!! And the other point the OP was trying to make is in all the intervening years the situation of crapware instead of getting better for the consumer is actually becoming so intrusive as to be unmanageable for the GENERAL consumer.
You sound like a shill for the OEM's-"Well, if they don't craptize your computer it will more expensive". Well sister if the OEM's can't make a profit off of their glorious hardware alone maybe they should go bankrupt because they are hurting their own customers at the cost of profit.
Member since:2006-02-15
Go back and read what I said. I clearly said several times that the situation shouldn't be like this. But you're still barking up the wrong tree.
Pull that stick out of your arsehole before it enters all the way into your brains and learn to read, like e.g. in the very first comment of this whole thread I already said "Similarly, one thing I already proposed years ago is that PC-manufacturers should stop pre-installing all that stuff" -- you quite clearly completely missed that.
Member since:2007-04-25
I'm not sure you understand economics. The crapware vendors pay the PC vendors to pre-install all that crap. The highly competitive PC market then causes the crapware-infested PC vendors to lower their prices below a sustainable level for the non-crapware PC vendors. In short, crapware PCs are cheaper.
And the public chooses the cheaper PCs in droves, driving most of the companies selling the quality PCs from the market.
When a selection of Ubuntu PCs were shipping from major vendors during the Vista debacle, I saw lots of complaints that pre-installing a no-cost OS actually drove the cost of the PC up. To this day, I don't think many of the complainers understood that the vendor cost of using Windows is negative, because the crapware payments more than cover the "Microsoft Tax".
My long-time barber has a sign in his shop: "They pain of a bad haircut will last far longer than the joy of a lower price." Works for PCs, too.
Support crap-free PCs with your dollars - Linux, Apple or even clean whitebox Windows produced locally - or else suck it up. You get what you pay for.
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Member since:
2006-02-15
You're not seeing the whole picture; it's not that they don't see it as being important, it's that it would be poor business, and also it would limit OEMs' ability to offering customized setups. If Microsoft went ahead and denied the OEMs the ability to pre-install stuff on the systems the prices would shoot up considerably, resulting in obvious end-user dissatisfaction, but it would also force the OEMs to look for other operating systems in order for them to retain profitability and the ability to offer a brand-specific installation.
Such a move would generate a lot of negative PR towards Microsoft both from end-users and from OEMs in various ways, like e.g. the aforementioned increase in prices, with OEMs trying various kinds of customized Linux-installation resulting in even more animosity from users -- you know, even when Microsoft is not directly responsible for something people still have the tendency of blaming them for things just simply because Microsoft exists somewhere in the line. Just check the comments here on OSNews! -- and so on. Also, as the general populace tends to see things only in the short-term -- think of the term "instant gratification" -- such a move would in general be a bad move all around.
Microsoft does actually recommend for OEMs not to install all this crap on their PCs, and as you should be aware of, Microsoft does offer a service in Microsoft Stores that removes all this crapware from the PCs while still ensuring that all the functionality is there. Their service also checks the system for any possible mis-configurations, installs updates and so on.