After causing controversy for charging US$49.99 to remove trial software from hard disks of new laptops, Sony has backtracked from imposing the fee on customers.
Starting on Saturday, Sony's Fresh Start software optimization feature will be free, the company announced.
Fresh Start is a Sony feature that lets customers buy certain laptops without so-called "bloatware," trial software that laptop makers often load onto new machines. Sony was asking buyers of the Vaio TZ2000 and Vaio TZ2500 notebooks with the Windows Vista Business OS to pay US$49.99 for the removal of the extra software. Those customers already pay an additional US$100 to upgrade to Windows Vista Business OS from Windows Vista Home Premium.
But after an uproar erupted online Friday in response to the Fresh Start fee, Sony has decided to offer the option for free.
"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," the company said in a statement.
Sony earlier justified the fee by saying it covers removal of the unwanted software before shipment.
Fresh Start is only available to buyers of the two Vaio customizable machines.
Customers opting for Sony's Fresh Start could miss out on software including Microsoft Works, bundled with a trial version of Microsoft Office; Sony's Vaio Creation Suite Photo Software with a Corel Paint Shop Pro trial version; the Click to Disc video editor WinDVD; and an edition of QuickBooks Simple Start that tracked only 20 customers.
Software publishers often pay PC manufacturers to include trial versions on computers they ship. Bloatware, as it is also known, can reduce system performance and available hard disk space, and take away system resources. It could also affect office productivity by introducing security vulnerabilities, and bloatware games can distract workers.
Dell last year offered the removal of bloatware from its Vostro line of PCs. Everex is also among a few vendors that offer PCs with the option to remove bloatware.
(Peter Sayer of the IDG News Service contributed to this report.)
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Security Inside Out
Know thy self: Reduce costs, secure data and ensure compliance with identity management
Cutting printer costs
Email Archiving 101—Customer Case Study
Mimosa™ NearPoint™ for Microsoft® Exchange Server: Email Archiving 101
Best Practice in Building an Integrated Information Management Strategy
Email Archiving Implementation: Five Costly Mistakes to Avoid
Business Intelligence and Enterprise Performance Management: Trends for Emerging Businesses
Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.
Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.
Attend and learn:
- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
- Where you should be applying SOA processes in your company
- The top SOA implementation mistakes to avoid
Click here for more information.
- +
Computerworld Live Podcast #97: The Future of Enterprise Networking 25/07/2008 09:45:36
This week CW Live chats with Mark Thompson, global sales and marketing manager for HP ProCurve, on the future of the enterprise networking. Mark discusses the trends we can expect to see in the near future and how the right infrastructure can ensure your enterprise network is secure. - +
Computerworld Live Podcast #96: Security at the Edge 11/06/2008 09:22:22
CW Live speaks with Amol Mitra, HP ProCurve Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan. Today's topic: how enterprises are starting to shift away from simply controlling security via server logins, firewalls and moving to more adaptive security frameworks. - +
Data Management Edition #10: Multi-Petascale Systems 02/05/2008 09:12:33
This week we look at sustainability and the development of multicore technologies to build multi-petascale systems. - +
IT Security Edition #11: How to poison the Storm botnet 01/05/2008 08:51:55
This week CW Live presents a case study on how to poison the notorious Storm botnet . Plus we take a look at Cisco's plans for Ironport. - +
IT Security Edition #10: Cyber-battles fought and won 24/04/2008 11:09:47
Vendors bow to end user pressure to improve product security, and we take a look at the latest concepts shaping the cyber-battlefield of the future.
Vignette Announces 2008 Excellence Awards 2008-11-21 10:50:00+11
PGP and Ponemon Institute Unveil Inaugural Australian Data Breach Study 2008 2008-11-20 17:34:00+11
Symantec Cloud Services Transform Data Centre Operations Through Proactive Management 2008-11-20 12:06:00+11
Verizon Business Offers Tips to Building a Successful Unified Communications and Collaboration Plan 2008-11-20 12:04:00+11
AARNet Brings 4K Digital Cinema to Australia: First 4K HD Video Signal delivered into Australia by AARNet 2008-11-20 12:02:00+11
Dude! You Say I Need an Application-Layer Firewall?!
Proxy firewall technologies have proven time and again to be more secure than “stateful” firewalls. They will also prove to be more secure than “deep inspection” firewalls. High-performance proxy firewalls are available today which are easily capable of handling gigabit-level traffic. Discover more by reading on.
Buying Guides
Latest Products
