Windows 7 - OEM's - Bloatware???

Since using the Beta, RC and other builds, everyone is raving on about Windows 7, about how Microsoft have got it right, about how snappy it is, etc etc.

What then happens when the likes of Acer, Dell, HP etc get their hands on the O/S and fill it with bloatware and destroy the system with crap, which will most likely cause the system to be bogged down. To the average non tech savvy average joe, who buys a system that is slow and unresponsive, they will blame Microsoft and say how poor the new Operating System is, then the likely questions will be posted over and over, where can I find XP drivers for this and that, this new operating system is slow rubbish, give me back my prehistoric outdated system.

Will Microsoft do something about this, will they warn companies against it, or are they powerless to stop this once they have sold the licences to these companies, or are they even bothered once they sell the licences, they've made their money, leave the rest to the OEM???

 

nice thought microsoft should do something about it

 

well with current hardware i think they will have a hard time slowing it down that bad.

 

Good question. I personally always thought that MSFT ought to do something about it because like you said at the end of the day MSFT and not the OEMs will be the one that most consumers will blame. Now whether or not MSFT can actually do anything is debatable.

Apple even made fun of MSFT on this one in one of their early mac vs PC ads which I found to be funny.

 

I recently bought a new Sony Vaio Z for work. It came with a P8600 Processor and 4GB of ram, 250GB 7200rpm hard drive, so not so sluggish really. Pre-installed with Vista and all of Sony's bloatware it runs like crap. Taking ages to start up and then more fool you if you expect to run more than two office apps at a time (open word, outlook and then excel and it starts to slow down soooo much). I was promptly given it back with a cry of how bad it was, two and a half hours later I had a nice clean speedy system and all I had done was stop all the crappy bloated programs that Sony pre-installed from starting automatically. So the same will probably still exist when Win7 is released. Shame really that hardware vendors can't see this as a problem.

 

I think the problem all comes down to money. The OEM's get paid for putting the trials on the PC's/Laptops. If they don't put them on, we pay more money. Maybe there should be an option to buy a system with or without, giving you the choice, and paying that little bit more for a clean system.

 

Or at least make all OEMs give out full windows disks instead of recovery disks that reload all the crap back on.

 

sony is notorious for bloatware.

why would someone need both microsoft works and microsoft office? seems pointless!!

 

I'm not sure about other companies but I do know that Sony allows you the option to buy a system without the trial crap....unfortunately it comes with a stipulation. You have to buy Vista Business in order to have the option for "clean system", plus it's an extra premium for this.

 

It may be nit-picking, but OEMs do NOT 'fill an OS' with bloatware.

They fill their system pre-loads with bloatware.

And no, the bloatware doesn't slow down the OS. It slows down a system by introducing a load of unnecessary processes, all of which complete with the OS for service time from the system.

Yah, 'bloatware' takes 30 minutes out of a day to delete from a new system. But when it's done, it's done.

The OEMs are probably NOT going to stop their pre-load fun and games. They make some money from it and with PC/notebook margins running negative these days every penny counts.

 

To someone who knows next to nothing about computers, they are not going to know how to remove these programs properly or how to stop the services. So, to most people who want to buy a notebook, and use it out the box, and the machine has 4gb RAM dual core cpu, and runs like crap, the person is going to blame the operating system straight away, they won't know that it's actually the manufacturers fault, that all the bloatware is causing this.

 

so what's your point?

 

Even if you take "30 minutes" to uninstall the bloatware, it will never be completely off your system. It's much better to clean install. The point is to not to have to take time to rid yourself of a clean system that one looks to when purchasing a new system. Like others have said before, the average user would not know to uninstall bloatware and the system will seem bogged down, therefore blaming MSFT or the OEM for a slow machine.

 

OEMs can continue to do this as long as they at least give consumers the option to clean install by providing a no-bloatware-added Vista (or whatever Windows version that's applicable) disk, not the restore disk crap that reloads everything back on. I think Dell is the only OEM that at least upon request will send out a Vista disk (for the XPS customers, I'm not sure about non-XPS).

Otherwise consumers will continue to be frustrated and blame MSFT/Windows or (for the more tech savvy ones) revert to obtaining the windows disk through questionable means.

 

I have an XPS, and my disk didn't reinstall the bloatware (I think, i was having issues with everything when I reinstalled Vista after it dies for some reason). But Dell sends out retail Vista discs to XPS people?!?!

And Microsoft pretty much controls PC manufacturers. They stop selling Windows to Dell or Acer or anyone, they're going down like a rock.

 

Yeah, my two XPS systems (one desktop and one laptop) both came with a windows disk (zero extra software/apps added) that was labelled by Dell (not a MSFT disk); the only thing it added, that a retail windows copy wouldn't, is the Dell logo in a couple of spots in windows. HP and an Acer I had OTOH only came with restore disks which upon installation reloaded all the bloatware/trial crap back on.

Come to think of it, I also had a Dell Dimensions desktop that, upon request, Dell sent me the Windows disk for.

 

My Gateway P-7811fx came with a Gateway disc that had a 32 and 64 bit version of Vista Home premium. There was ZERO bloatware. It was a beautiful thing. I give huge Kudos to Gateway for that, especially considering the very affordable price of that system.

 

Maybe that's what I have then. Separate discs for DVD copying software, webcam, and drivers. But maybe the odd dell logo here and there makes me think it's hiding some bloatware. And I have to use the Dell Wireless WLAN manager or something to use wireless :/

 

Same thing that happened with Vista. Windows 7 will "suck" in the eyes of these unwitting users.

I do some tech support for a real estate firm with 60 or 70 agents who all bring their own notebooks into the mix, so I see a lot of Hp's, Toshibas, Dells, etc. The Dells aren't that bad, but the HP's and Toshibas are rubbish out of the box, and of course the users whine and moan about how crappy Vista is. But it ain't Vista. It's the crap installs of Vista provided by these vendors. And the same will happen with Windows 7. We're all impressed by how clean and snappy the OS is, but let these vendors start loading it up and it'll be a pig.

I really wish Microsoft had the ability to force OEM's to distribute the OS "clean" with simply the OS and drivers. Trialware and OEM-specific utilities would have to be distributed on CD's like in the old days. If this added $50 to the price of every machine, so be it. Of course it won't happen, and if MS even tried to force something like this the anti-trust lawyers would be all over them.

This is the real advantage that Apple has...the ability to tightly control the experience. A fresh install of a Microsoft OS is every bit as stable as an Apple OS. It's just that the vast majority of Windows users never experience a clean OS install.

 

Hey so I remember reading about Win7 being able to run xbox and ps games. Is this for reals?

 

My Dell Studio 17 didn't come with anything extra pre-loaded on the HD except Dell Dock and webcam software.