Jon's Network

Shoulda bought a Mac

Walt Mossberg bought a new Sony Vaio with Windows Vista and spent hours uninstalling “craplets” – those annoying teaser ads and programs that come on PCs. His new toy ended up being quite a hassle uninstalling the teaser programs, configuring the security software and then installing 21 different updates from Sony. To top it off, the thing takes over two minutes to boot up! A new Mac does come with some teaser software, but nothing as annoying as a PC, where it is all over the desktop and start menu. Or contrast it with Linux. No teaserware there.

It’s not like Sony and the other PC manufacturer’s are doing anything wrong. They get paid to install the ads, then they get paid again when 30% of their customers act on the offers. They’re offering the PCs at those prices knowing that they will make some money on the ad conversions. If you want an ad-free PC, I’m sure they would charge for the luxury.