The PC Decrapifier

So, Sony's been in the tech news this week for rolling out their new "fresh start" option. This gives you the privileged to pay Sony an additional $50 to get a PC without crapware. To me this really shows the character of Sony. Back in September 2007, PC World did a test a bunch of PCs and gave them a "Junk Rating." Sony was the top offender. So, instead of trying to improve their image by just not installing the crap, they want to charge you more to "remove" it. But, obviously they don't have to "remove" it... they just don't need to install it in the first place.

One thing I find ironic about this whole thing is that I've read articles and forum posts where people claim that they'd be willing to pay more for a crap free PC. We all know the OEMs get paid for the advertising, so they'd have to recover the cost from the consumer to get rid of it. And that's all fine and good, but the problem is all in the execution. In order to do it right, Sony would just have to drop the habit cold turkey. Remove it from ALL their products and bump up the price. At the same time, advertise the fact about how much better/cleaner their products are. Oh, yeah, Apple already did that.

So, of course, that's not what they did and people revolted. Just as quickly as it was announced, Sony retracted the "fresh start" option.

Way to go Sony! We can tack this on the list of other Sony consumer driven innovations, right after the "MiniDisc."