Date: 03-25-2008
Sony has backed off its earlier practice of charging a $49.99 fee for removing bloatware from new laptops and announced that the software optimization feature will be totally free. The feature, called Fresh Start, which is restricted to Vaio TZ2000 and Vaio TZ2500 model laptops, was introduced to cut out annoying applications and trials in order to free up disk space. But protests were lodged by customers who expressed irritation at shelling out a gross fee for bloatware-free laptops, leading promptly to the fee reversal. “We want Vaio users to have the best experience possible with our PCs, and we believe Fresh Start will help ensure that happens right out-of-the-box,” the company said in a statement. Sources also suggest that some customers feel that Sony is deliberately preloading more bloatware than other computer manufacturers.
