Slashdot.Org provide a link to this unintentionally hilarious page on Microsoft’s website urging independent computer stores not to let consumer’s walk out of the store with a “naked PC” — i.e. a custom PC that doesn’t have Windows installed.
The site opens up by saying that, “Machines are useless until customers install system software themselves.” Okay, I want my PC pre-installed with Windows, but I have plenty of friends who consider a PC with Windows installed to be “useless.”
Microsoft goes on to say that by not installing a version of Windows, “you expose them [customers] to legal risks, viruses, and frustrating technical troubles.” Frustrating technical troubles? Isn’t that a synonym for Microsoft Windows? (Currently both of my Windows PCs give me a warning message telling me they don’t have the proper drive installed for my printer, even though they actually do, and reinstalling the driver does no good — if Microsoft wants frustration, they need look no further than the Windows registry).
Isn’t there anyone at Microsoft who realizes that this sort of nonsense really alienates pretty much everyone? It’s precisely this sort of stuff that makes people have such negative attitudes toward Microsoft.
If I go to buy a computer and I don’t want an OS installed, I don’t want an OS installed. I don’t want the salesman spending 10 minutes explaining to me why I really do want an OS, and I don’t want a lecture from Bill Gates on the topic either.