Windows Vista Companion DVD delayed (for Sony purchasers before 26 October 2006)

I bought my SZ160 1 March 2006 and therefore I am not eligible for the Windows Vista Express Upgrade Kit. However, the specific Sony webpage for my model has been saying for a month that a Windows Vista Companion DVD would be available at the end of February 2007 and that shipping would take place on 5 March 2007.

On the evening of 2 March the notice for the Companion DVD suddenly changed on the Sony website, stating that the option to order the Companion DVD is "not expected to be available until the end of March". Now the shipping date for the Companion DVD has been pushed back to 6 April 2007.

I also noticed that the shipping date for the Express Update Kit (for Sony purchasers on or after 26 October 2006) has been pushed back to 9 March 2007.

When I finally do migrate to Vista, I would like to do a clean install, to be able to eliminate any of the junk that is currently slowing down my SZ160 under Windows XP.

Does anyone know whether the Windows Vista Companion DVD will contain the Sony drivers in the correct sequence to be able to do a clean install with a full version of Windows Vista Business edition? Or will this DVD only work with the upgrade version of Windows Vista Business edition to perform an "in-place" upgrade?

 

This is really no surprise to me. If you look at the updated drivers page for the SZ450N, you will notice an awful lot of entries for a machine that has only ben out for about a month. They are simply having trouble with driver and software compatibility. Even a simple thing like a camera driver that will show the camera in My Computer has not happened yet.

I am willing to bet that a companion DVD will contain all of the useless (to most of us) proprietary Sony AV stuff and a lot of craplets, demos etc.

Remember, VAIO means Video Audio Integrated Operation. Just why they put all that junk on what is really a high end business laptop with a fingerprint reader, TPM, and cellular modem is beyond me. Its a disconnect between the geniuses who design this stuff, and the morons who market and manage.

 

Provided that you own a standalone version of Vista Business, to truly have a clean installation you should first create a customized version of Vista with vlite so you can remove any unnecessary Vista components (like Windows Defender) and include the necessary SZ drivers/utilities on the DVD with the XP clean installation directory structure.

 

Can you really remove the bloatware with vlite? I thought it can only remove vista components like Windows Defender.