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Sony Reverses Policy, No Charge for Fresh Start Program

by , 2:00 PM EDT, March 24th, 2008

Within hours after Sony announced they would charge for the deletion of trialware from their Vaio computers, amidst a flurry of protest on the Internet, the company reversed itself and said the Fresh Start program will now be free of charge.

In a statement to TMO on Monday, Sony said, "Starting March 22, Sony will offer Fresh Start free of charge. We want VAIO users to have the best experience possible with our PCs, and we believe Fresh Start will help ensure that happens right out-of-the-box."

However, even though there is no charge for the Fresh Start option, customers must still elect to upgrade the Vaio from Vista Home Premium to Vista Business, which will cost them US$100.00 more.

The speed with which Sony reversed itself, literally within hours after the initial announcement in the light of what was a massive uprising of customer dissatisfaction, has been most welcome and suggests that Sony is tuned into its customers and can react accordingly to maintain good will.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:geoduck Posts: 1661 Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:58 pm Subject: Well isn't that nice of them...

they decided to NOT charge peope to remove crapware that shouldn't have been on the systems in the first place.

[/sarcasm]


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View Name:Guest
Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:34 pm Subject: UMMM, But it still has VISTA????
Close Name:Dreadnought Posts: 158 Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:47 pm Subject: Still Charging $100 ...

Sony will remove the crapware for free now, but not really. You still have to buy the Vista Business Premium upgrade to get a "Fresh Start".

That's not free... as in speech or beer.


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View Name:Guest
Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:07 pm Subject: Sony is on my don't buy list now
Close Name:xmattingly Posts: 163 Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:35 pm Subject: The price is right?

My initial thought is that Sony will nickel and dime their customers like anyone else, until people complain loud enough. I am halfway under the impression that, "Well good, Sony 'gets it now'". But cynic in me is also questioning what the markup is or will soon be on their Vaio's, and it's probably a good time to monitor the price tag on those things over the next several months.

Can you imagine that - if they're going to charge a markup on PC's before they even remove the crapperware... so customers who don't opt out get stuck with the bigger price tag AND unwanted trial software?


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