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Crapware Often Key to PC Profitability
by , 1:30 PM EDT, April 18th, 2007
PCs exist in a highly competitive, commodity market. Making a profit on a cheap PC depends on the revenue generated from crapware, according to C|Net on Wednesday.
While adding all the demo software to PCs, known as crapware, makes money for the PC vendors, the practice is starting to alienate customers.
It all started when starry-eyed vendors thought they could give away PCs and make money with crapware subsidies and advertising bounties with ISPs.
"While those dreams have largely faded, companies have continued to make money from including trial software, desktop icons and more recently, by agreeing to include a toolbar or other service from the leading Internet search providers," Ina Fried wrote.
The revenue generated these days amounts to only about US$10 or $20. But on a $400 computer, that's a big deal. It's also a big deal for irritated customers.
 Apple's blast at crapware |
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"Apple, for its part," the author noted, "is playing off the growing outcry, highlighted in a recent column by Walt Mossberg in The Wall Street Journal. In a new ad that debuted this week, the "PC guy" played by John Hodgman appears so bloated he can barely move."
"It's all this trial software," Hodgman says in the spot. "They pack my hard drive full of it, all these programs that don't do very much, unless you buy the whole thing...it really slows me down."
Apple avoids the crapware by passing on cheap systems and making only higher priced computers on which they can make money. In addition, the trial software that is put on a Mac is very limited and non-intruding. That translates into better customer satisfaction.
Observer Comments
Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:05 pm Subject: Limited/Non-intrusive
Agreed... A Mac may have come with trial versions of software but for the most part its minimal. Office and iWork come to mind, but so does QuickBooks.
But something that has always annoyed me is the QuickTime Pro reminde which comes of intrusive.
To be fair, I have purchased QuickTime Pro over the years, so maybe the reminder has gone away. But I remember that box would pop up asking to upgrade every time QuickTime would launch.
QuoteGuest wrote:
I do believe the article specified that, while demo software is available on the Mac, it is limited and non-intrusive. Not much of a reality check needed here.
Having purchased both new PCs and new Macs there is a world of difference between the two.
Right. If you never open the MS Office trial on a Mac, you'll never even know it's there. If you just drag it to the trash, that'll be the end of it. It doesn't appear on the dock.
Those are 3 major differences between Mac trial software and most PC trials.
There's no comparison.
Quotefultonkbd wrote:
To be fair, I have purchased QuickTime Pro over the years, so maybe the reminder has gone away. But I remember that box would pop up asking to upgrade every time QuickTime would launch.
Ugh. I still get angry when I think about QuickTime 4! It's not that bad anymore, though. I don't recall being nagged at all with QT7 (although I did upgrade quickly, so it's possible I forgot). It can't possibly be as bad as it was when QuickTime 4 came out, that's for sure! That was probably the most annoying trial software I've ever used, which was made all the worse by the fact that previous versions were free and offered most of the functionality that was exclusive to "pro" version of QT4. I really hope someone was fired for that.
Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:48 pm Subject: QuickBooks no longer included
Quotefultonkbd wrote:
Agreed... A Mac may have come with trial versions of software but for the most part its minimal. Office and iWork come to mind, but so does QuickBooks.
QuickBooks is not included on any current Mac. When it was included on the "pro" Macs (Power Mac and PowerBooks), it was a fully-operational version, not a trial. (I got it on my PowerBook G4 and am still using it.) The consumer Macs included a fully-operational version of Quicken.
The trial software on current Macs includes MS Office and iWork on all Macs plus FileMaker Pro on the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro. That's it.
Quotegslusher wrote:Quotefultonkbd wrote:
Agreed... A Mac may have come with trial versions of software but for the most part its minimal. Office and iWork come to mind, but so does QuickBooks.
QuickBooks is not included on any current Mac. When it was included on the "pro" Macs (Power Mac and PowerBooks), it was a fully-operational version, not a trial. (I got it on my PowerBook G4 and am still using it.) The consumer Macs included a fully-operational version of Quicken.
The trial software on current Macs includes MS Office and iWork on all Macs plus FileMaker Pro on the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro. That's it.
Good to know... my PowerMac is a few years old. I didn't realize QuickBooks was a full version. And to think I trashed it when I set up my Mac... D'oh!!!!
Quotefultonkbd wrote:
Good to know... my PowerMac is a few years old. I didn't realize QuickBooks was a full version. And to think I trashed it when I set up my Mac... D'oh!!!!
Well, haul out those restore/install CD's - it's probably still there - all the software your Mac came with should be, even the trials.
Quoterwahrens wrote:
Well, haul out those restore/install CD's - it's probably still there - all the software your Mac came with should be, even the trials.
Yeah I know... Now where did I put those CDs?
Actually, I don't have much of a need for QuickBooks. Quicken works for me. But damn them, they are forcing me to buy the upgrade to keep some of the features... i.e. downloading banking information. Sheesh
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