Microsoft to charge customers $99 to remove OEM 'crapware'

[GreyGeek]

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/m...crapware/20446

Unbelievable chutzpah!

So, the OEMs make money from installing crapware onto PCs, and now Microsoft is making money removing it. Makes you realize why more and more people are [MOVING TO Linux!]

We need a "crook" icon.

[charles052]

So Microsoft charges $99 to remove Windows?

[lcorken]

So Microsoft charges $99 to remove Windows?

That would be a bargain.

[oshunluvr]

So Microsoft charges $99 to remove Windows?

Sign me up! Wait, can I get it removed from others peoples computers?

[whatthefunk]

I wonder when Microsoft will realize that its bad for their company to allow OEMs to load nearly every one of their PCs with crap. My last Windows computer came with around 10 different image and movie editing programs, all of which were completely useless. I deleted them several times, but they always seemed to find their way back onto my computer. Its half the reason Im now posting on a Linux forum

[woodsmoke]

LOL
It is possible that the bottom of the price curve has met the Microsith normal way of doing things which was to harvest smaller amounts of money from "third party people" and that Micrisith has now determined that they can make money from BOTH streams.... The problem with that is that with such razor thin profit margins for the hardware manufacturers that the crapware is probably a major part of that razor thin income.

Everybody is worried about their money NOW when, just a few years ago, MS, at least could take a longer view...but maybe that doesn't hold anymore.

just a thought.

woodsmoke

[Snowhog]

I posted the gist of what follows somewhere, sometime, to the best of my remembrance.

In the 'early' days of Windows XP (it might have been NT), the Army National Guard released a PC system 'image' for use by the States. That image came with Norton Anti-Virus Corporate Edition, but it was disabled by default. Everyone was warned NOT to activate it and perform a system scan, BECAUSE Norton Anti-Virus detected Windows as a 'virus' and would precede to ERASE (DoD Military Grade erasure) the HDD!! When I heard that, I was pleasantly amused. Windows OS seen as a virus by Norton AV.

[woodsmoke]

LOL
woodsmoke

[SteveRiley]

Some observations and comments...

1. The cost of a PC is artificially low because the crapware acts as a subsidy. If OEMs are deprived of the revenue from crapware, then PC prices will rise. So whether Alice pays more up front for a clean PC, or pays someone later to clean the ultra-cheap PC, Alice ultimately ends up paying more.

2. Crapware is getting crappier over time. With increasing frequency, the uninstallers still leave stuff around or just fail altogether. Unfortunately, J. Random PCBuyer is typically not able to distinguish between the core operating system and the OEM-added crapware: it's all just Windows, right? Microsoft gets blamed for something that is not Microsoft's fault.

3. Except for PCs adhering to the Signature Series specs, Microsoft is legally prohibited from dictating to OEMs what is and isn't allowed to be installed. The outcome of this is that OEMs avoid shouldering any responsibility for their own actions, because consumers are largely unaware of these regulations.

4. It is not unreasonable to assume that the $99 clean-up plan has a subtler motive: that is, a forcing function to alter OEM behavior. Such thinking is not without precedent. Most people misunderstood the fact that UAC (user account control) was never intended to be a security mechanism. Instead, the purpose was to act as an irritant to force third-party application developers to write their software so it would work with standard user accounts (and not require administrator access). In this respect, UAC actually accomplished its goal. I would submit that the $99 uncrapifier service seeks to accomplish a similar goal.

[rms]

Sheeps are for sheering. They always get away with it, don't they?

[Qqmike]

SteveRiley, Post #9 -- Nice, well-thought-out post ... and THAT is the problem! Too subtle. Too much thinking. Not right for consumers or for corporate image and positioning. Elsewhere, I expressed my opinion and impression this way:


M$ at it again. Microsoft has made important contributions to technology and to the economy and to society. But ... what is it with this company? Like a damned dog in heat when it comes to, shall we say, the look-and-feel of its business strategies. Controversy seems to be its new middle name. Yeah, I grew up in an America that made shovels and screw drivers and appliances and other real things, and I miss that, and times DO change, so suck it up Big Guy. But must we change like we are? Can't we get back a few steel mills (like the one I grew up with in Sterling IL which has since changed/downsized/reorganized)? If you don't have a "real" product, you goof around with what you do have--using Courts & Lawyers & Out-dated Patent Laws & Such, and impotent service definitions, and infinite-and-contrived product differentiation strategies. And, boys and girls, M$ is one of our leading companies. It's beginning to act like Arnold Schwarzenegger's "girly boys" (remember that? I do, I get what he meant at the time in context, I like Arnold's view at times, though I'm a liberal). Welcome to the 21st century.

[oshunluvr]

Steve's typically logical and well-thought-out explanation aside...

I would think over-all that the net of this and a couple of other recent news items, like dvd support costing extra and Windoze 8 being foisted upon us, might have the effect of giving Microsith some bad press, at least to the average sheep.

The Story:

So, a co-worker and I are in the market for a new but basic laptop. We each go and buy a new name-brand $499 laptop. I pay $70 extra for the Amazing Windows Professional version (so I can actually use all it's features) then pay $50 for two years of McAffee "Security" (and I use that term loosely). Oh wait, I have a USB DVD player at home. What? I have to pay another $40 to get a driver? Oh, look - I can't seem to get ride of this "Find the Bunny" trial version game my vendor saw fit to "provide" for me. Oh, Microslop will "save" me for only $99.

Then the next week at work, I'm bitching about the $259 extra I've spent so far with nothing to show for it just to get my laptop usable. My co-worker shows me his new laptop. It's just like mine except It has something called linux on it and all his software is free. He doesn't need anti-virus software, his starts up and shuts down three or four times faster than mine, and has a better battery life. To add insult to injury, my portable dvd player works right-out-of-the-box on his laptop. Then he tells me I can download this linux also for free and install it myself in 20 minutes or less.

Am I the only one who thinks this could and likely is happening right now? What about a small company who spends $40,000 on licenses (my company of 300ish employees spends more than that) and servicing Windows based problems, only to have to "Upgrade" their OS and Office software every three years for another $40-50,000 or so. At what point does the IT manager start converting the company to linux?

Too bad Canonical has abanded the desktop/laptop market for phones/tablets/TV's. Seems the time is ripe for a major player to jump into the market. Or maybe it's just me...

[rms]

I would think over-all that the net of this and a couple of other recent news items, like dvd support costing extra and Windoze 8 being foisted upon us, might have the effect of giving Microsith some bad press, at least to the average sheep.
---
Am I the only one who thinks this could and likely is happening right now?
---

I think for as long as it is possible to get a working copy in the wild, it is not happening and it won't happen among "average sheep".

Business users, as you're probably aware, are in even worse position because they, more often then not, depend on non-cross-platform-specialized windblows software so they have added porting headache.

[dequire]

Business users, as you're probably aware, are in even worse position because they, more often then not, depend on non-cross-platform-specialized windblows software so they have added porting headache.

...And the aging and resillient .Net programmers will live to collect a paycheck for another day...

[oshunluvr]

When Microslop released Office 2010, it was discovered to be not backward compatible with Office 2003. Any company using their software had to reprogram all they macros and such costing thousands of man hours. Yo'd think the IT departments would get a clue who they're dealing with.