Why Don’t More PC Manufacturers Do This?

Having just purchased a new laptop from HP in the past few weeks, I’m aware of all the “crapware” they stuff onto new systems these days.  When I bought our new Dell Desktop last year, my first order of business was to re-format the hard drive and lay down a fresh install of Windows XP (mainly because I only sprung for XP Home when I bought it and had a Full Packaged Product copy of XP Pro to use on it).

Where it really blows is on utilities that enable key parts of the hardware.  The Dell came with a “lite” copy of the CD burning software (Sonic Record Now, IIRC).  That version wouldn’t burn ISO images.  There was a menu option in the program for it, but it only contained a link to purchase the full version of the product.

Then there is all the free online trials.  Sign up for AOL! or Earthlink! or some other service!  It is amazing how many icons are on the desktop when you finally log on.  Even the HP, which came pre-loaded with Vista Ultimate - they have software to help you pick one of their online partners.  Granted, it has a “I already have Internet service” option, but it will still nag you after a bit, “are your sure you don’t want to try one of these other online providers?”  Grrr.

Enter Lenovo.  I only got to use a ThinkPad once in the past - back when they were still made by IBM.  I was writing a custom wrapper for a customer’s VPN solution and they sent me one of their standard issue laptops with the corporate image on it.  Structurally, it was very utilitarian, but in a good way.  They keyboard had a nice feel to it.  Rumor from folks I’ve talked to that are still at Microsoft is that Lenovo is finally on ITG’s approved vendor list now (probably more to do with it now being not-IBM then anything else).  Even better, as Lenovo point out in their own blog, they offer their own utility for removing crapware. 

Why can’t everyone do this?  I’m scared to re-image the new HP our of fear of trying to track down drivers for everything.  I’ve gotten rid of most of the stuff I can, but I have this feeling there is more.  Omar Shahine points out another nice thing - all there utility apps are actually well written and look nice. (As a side note, Omar calls for them to ditch the S-Video port for an HDMI port - something my new HP Pavillion has - but then again it is billed as an “entertainment” computer and not a “business” laptop.)