Editorial - Sony Charges to Remove Crapware from Vaios

by , 2:25 PM EDT, March 21st, 2008

Sony is charging customers to remove trialware and other unwanted software from their new Vaio TZ notebook computers. It's hardly surprising that the MacBook Air is selling so well.

Others have dubbed it crapware. It's all that extra stuff that's installed on a new PC that no one wants. But the vendor receives a little bit of money that offsets the ultra-slim profit margins in the cut-throat PC industry. It just goes to show how much baggage the PC industry has acquired

Here's a screen shot from the CTO page for the VGN-TZ2000:

Last year, Dell announced that based on customer feedback, they would make the trialware a configuration option for the customer.

Sony, however, has decided to charge the customer US$50 to have it removed before shipment. The option is called "Fresh Start," trademarked no less. And to get that option, the user must spend an additional US$100 to upgrade from Windows Vista Home Premium to Vista Business. Total cost: $150.00.

Apple notebook computers are taking the world by storm, contributing to ever increasing market share for Apple, and daily make headline news as celebrities like Charlie Rose and Martha Stewart rave about their new MacBook Air.

One has to wonder what Sony is thinking. Perhaps they need some executives like Steve Jobs to bang some heads.