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In the world according Jobs, user experience is king. From buying to setting up and ultimately using a Mac, people with big brains have put a lot of thought into the whole process and crapware isn't on the menu.

Call it a better way to sell computers or just simple respect, consumers are responding by buying a lot more Macs and giving Apple very high customer satisfaction (News.com) scores.

The PC way...

Sony is perhaps emblematic of PC makers response to this rising tide—realizing that the crapware is negatively influencing user experience, they've begun offering computers without the hated software. The catch is, however, they expect an additional $150 (PCWorld) for the privilege.

The "Fresh Start" option, billed as a software optimization, costs US$50, and is only available to customers choosing to pay an additional $100 to upgrade the operating system to Windows Vista Business from the Windows Vista Home Premium edition offered as standard.

So, consumers wanting a Sony computer that isn't hobbled with performance draining, frustration inducing crapware can expect to pay through the nose to get it.

[u] Wired reports that Sony has dropped the $50 fee, but still requires buyers to upgrade to Vista biz to get the option to go crapless:

Fresh Start will now be a no-cost option on Sony's slick subnotebooks, but only for those who opt for Windows Vista Business Edition, a $100 upgrade. Most sites covering the $50 Fresh Start charge were incensed at the idea of being charged to leave malfunctioning and unwanted software off—and Sony has responded with a speed unusual for the international giant.

Yes, it can be argued that the no crapware cost is built into the price of every Mac—Apple's margins are among the highest in the business. Yet the superiority of the Mac experience isn't defined by a lack of crapware alone...

What's your take?

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Reader Comments

It's $50, and the Sony is dropping the crapware fee as of tomorrow. Still a stupid idea. Misprint Posted by Guest Poster #1 on 03/21/08 5:51 PM Peter Drucker: "Eliminate activities that do not create customer value." Mfgrs Forget Who Pays the Bills Posted by Boc on 03/21/08 5:58 PM No, it's $150 because you have to spend $100 on Vista biz just have the option of going crapwareless. Posted by Guest Poster #3 on 03/21/08 6:01 PM Doesn't anybody read properly anymore? M Sharp clearly states the conditions. My brother, just paid out $130 to have his Toshiba laptop de-loused(conflicting anti virus sw and countless virus infections, adware etc etc) and cleaned up(removal of crapware) and a system restore.... it's only 5 months old!! haw haw haw - we don't get on ;-)) Posted by Guest Poster #4 on 03/22/08 1:24 PM How about the Office trial? When I used migration assistant, the Office 2004 actually disabled my functional version of Word X and replaced it with a 30-day trail of Office 2004 that expired, leaving me with nothing. Macs aren't Crapware Free either Posted by Ralph on 03/24/08 9:40 AM Microft advises throwing away / removing any trial versions of Office before installing the real thing. I think the installer says that, too. M. Sharp Posted by Guest Poster #6 on 03/24/08 10:13 AM * Office 2004 * Aparture - no uninstaller * iWork 06 - no uninstaller * FileMaker Pro 8.5 (installer, not installed) * More? I don't know... I'm not saying I don't love my MBP, let's just get the facts straight. My MacBook Pro came loaded with trial software Posted by zvikico on 03/24/08 1:32 PM The big difference here is that dragging to the trash is pretty much the extent of an uninstall on a mac and having those apps on your machine isn't bogging it down like they do on Windows. The problem with Windows is you're hard pressed to find an app that doesn't install some sort of system tray or background process, not to mention the registry bloating. This is especially the case with the "free" software because they want to make sure they can pester you to upgrade. big difference Posted by Guest Poster #8 on 03/24/08 1:47 PM * Office 2004 - drag to trash, empty trash. (that will immediately "re-enable" Office v. X for the poster above as well). * Aperture - drag to trash. * iWork 06/08 - drag to trash. * FileMaker Pro 8.5 - drag to trash. * More? You don't know much. MacBook Pro trial software Posted by Guest Poster #9 on 03/24/08 2:36 PM Apple's doing it too, but in a less overt way. The upsell to .Mac when you start iWeb, and the many references to .Mac syncing built into Mac OS X. Not forgetting QuickTime's greyed-out "PRO" labels besides menu items for advanced features. Apple's doing it too Posted by MG on 03/25/08 12:22 PM I've used Macs & PCs (PCs at work, wouldn't have one in the house). I have just bought a new intel imac and have had no problems with the very small amount of demos/crapware pre-installed, (were I can find it in the applications folder). if I don't want it I just drag it to the bin and bye-bye, it was a 2 minute job, everybody needs to have a clear out now and again anyway and it doesn't get much easier than with a mac, PCs well that's like looking for needles in a very badly put together haystack. Less Stress - Get a Mac Posted by Guest Poster #11 on 03/29/08 8:16 PM Apple needs to put out an uninstaller program. I already have AppZapper which is great, but why did I have to pay for something that OS should come with?! Apple needs an uninstaller Posted by AlphaTeam on 04/15/08 12:02 AM Do u need sony? god at least u have choices for pc's. If theres a think wrong with macs u cant use a different company cpu. Posted by Guest Poster #13 on 01/14/09 8:15 PM doode, you're meth and gramma skilz rok! Posted by Guest Poster #14 on 01/14/09 9:47 PM

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