Pre-installed Software: A Better Way
PC BOX BUILDERS are thinking of getting rid of the tradition of stuffing your new PC or laptop with trial software that you don’t really want anyway.
The reason is that some retailers, such as Best Buy, are making a small fortune removing the software and charging punters for the privilege.
Well, how about this: instead of loading PCs with a load of junk that users pay to be removed, why not put on a few, good open source programs: OpenOffice.org, Audacity, the Gimp, Blender? No cost to the manufacturer, no rubbish for the end user. Just a thought....
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4 comments:
For users this is a good idea, but not for companies trying to make money. Software companies pay computer manufacturers to put crapware on their systems...this probably makes up a majority of the margin on many systems sold these days. There's no money in adding open source software.
You are of course absolutely right - except that the money the manufacturers gain from this kind of stuff is paid for by the negative value users perceive.
I'd be willing to bet that a manufacturer that provides useful software instead may lose out in terms of kickbacks from the software houses but will ultimately gain in through sales to satisfied customers....
A great idea when you consider that so much open source software has matured so well right now. I even made a website of Linux software to help those considering switching from Windows or Mac:
http://www.anova.org/software/
For me, one of the great advantages of today's desktop environments like KDE and Gnome is that I am ready to go right after installation, and my post-installation tweaking time is greatly reduced. Here's a popular electronics store in the US that does the same thing: http://firedog.com/details/fdquickstart.html?o=183988&s=computer%20services&p=new%20pc%20setup
Thanks for the link.
Good point about the ready to go nature post installation.
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