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Sony limits 'Fresh Start' to certain SKUs, for now

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

March 26, 2008, 5:50 PM

The controversial "Fresh Start" option --the option to pay Sony $50 to not include superfluous programs on new computers-- which was made free after an immediate consumer backlash, may expand to more Sony units, but for now will remain with its TZ series.

Currently, only two Vaio notebooks in the TZ series offer Fresh Start. The configure-to-order TZ2000, and TZ2500. however, the SZ, CR, FZ, NR, and AR series do not.

Sony senior strategist Jon Piazza told BetaNews this afternoon, "We are looking to make Fresh Start available to other Vaio Platforms, but the company does not currently have any plans to expand this offering beyond the TZ units."

As it appears now, however, Vaio customers seeking to qualify for the Fresh Start option must purchase the full Vista Business edition -- a $100 upgrade.

As "looking" turns into "planning," expect an updated list of Fresh Start products from Sony.

Add a Comment (8 Comments)

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By basistrdr

edited Apr 6, 2008 - 3:53 AM

This is old news -- sony was SUPPOSED to offer this for all TZ laptops -- like 2 years ago. I just bought a $2700 TZ today and I am absolutely pissed with the bloatware. i needed a laptop in a hurry, i know TZs are the best, i bought it in 5 minutes and now I got to spent 5 hours fixing the damn thing so it will work. the bloatware is a joke and sony is stupid. If they lose 1 customer out of 100 they are going to take a big loss. A lot of customers have $$ but not a lot of IT experience. if it was anyone else in my family who bought it, they would have returned it because its soo crappy. sony, you make a great product, but if the laptop costs more than $1500 and you include bloatware, you guys are idiots

Score: 0

By Bladeforce

posted Mar 27, 2008 - 1:16 AM

Erm this is SONY the ever so reliable and honest company we are talking about...

Score: 0

By KRome

posted Mar 26, 2008 - 7:28 PM

i dont see what the problem is. as a consumer you have the right not to buy a product from sony. if you feel that this is a bad policy, buy another brand.

am i missing something?

The best way to show you dont like this policy is to not buy a Sony.

Why is this even news?

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Mar 26, 2008 - 6:43 PM

sony still does not know what its doing with this idea. Bottom line is its getting a financial incentive to include bloat onto machines.

Opinions on this are quite clear, in the most part, that this bloat is crap and comes off at the first opportunity. If sony wants to appeal to the masses, I feel it would be better to sell this version sligtly cheaper than the non bloated version.

The uneducated masses, would pick the cheaper version. They would be happy at getting in their eyes the best deal and get on with it. It would be retail outlets who would sell it, and offer advice to anyone who is unsure, but at the end of the day the customer would decide the best option for themselves.

I think it is a marketing blunder on sonys part to market this in the way they are.

Score: 0

By Paul Skinner

edited Mar 26, 2008 - 8:08 PM

^This^

It's not to market it as having a higher price to remove the crap; it's to market it as having a lower price to have it with the crap.

That would work.

"Comes as standard with no crap, but for $50 less you can have a version with crap"

Score: 0

By lsproc

posted Mar 27, 2008 - 4:57 AM

Save yourself $50 and remove the crap by hand if you want :)

Of course, since your license key is on the side of the box, borrow a friends vista dvd (any type) and just whack the key in, you get the edition with the box and crap-free :D

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Mar 27, 2008 - 12:50 PM

Problem is that non-oem DVDs will not work with OEM license keys. I have at least verified this with Dell Vista OEM, so someone correct me if somehow non-OEM works with Sony but not Dell.

Also I can use my OEM Vista Ultimate DVD to install on a Dell using the product key. I have to call them to activate it but it works. I bought a standalone-OEM copy of Vista because it's cheaper than retail. If someone he knows has an OEM Vista DVD that'd probably work, but the retail DVDs do not work with Dell OEM product keys (Dell is the only one I can verify this on), the install does not recognise them.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Mar 27, 2008 - 3:52 PM

Quite true.

just like you need the corp version to use a VLK.

Score: 0

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