Dell gives trialware the heave-ho

http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...407dailynews2&
--

Regards,
Hank Arnold
Microsoft MVP
Windows Server - Directory Services

On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:35:57 -0400, "Hank Arnold (MVP)"
<> wrote:

>http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...407dailynews2&

Thanks Hank, I'm glad Dell is finally seeing the light.

Of particular note:

"The company says that consumers who buy PCs for personal use do
express interest in preloaded trial software,"

Sure, consumers do exist who are interested in it, but I'd like to see
the statistical results of Dell's survey to support that it's a
significant percentage of consumers.

The way much of the "preloaded trial software" is set up on the Dell
PCs is that they are not just trial, they are in-your-face intrusions,
and for non-techy users, there often isn't enough information for them
to be able to make an informed decision. Norton or McAfee fear,
uncertainty, doubt.

It's a no-brainer that small businesses should never have had to be
subject to the trialware. Now Dell should at least package consumer
trialware so that they can dynamically choose for it to be installed
in the first place as options when a new PC starts (with the option to
delay the decision).

An argument made in favor of pre-installed trialware is that it makes
consumer PCs less expensive due to Dell being reimbursed in some way
by the companies that have the trialware installed. I don't know how
much truth there is in that.

"Journey" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:35:57 -0400, "Hank Arnold (MVP)"
> <> wrote:
>
>>http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...407dailynews2&
>
> Thanks Hank, I'm glad Dell is finally seeing the light.
>

My brand new Vostro 1700 laptop which arrived Thursday contains all manner
of crap (and, no, I'm not talking about Vista).

Most notably McAfee Security Centre which keeps popping up an annoying
"register now or later?" dialogue box.

So a clean re-install is currently in progress.

Juan Kerr wrote:
> My brand new Vostro 1700 laptop which arrived Thursday contains all manner
> of crap (and, no, I'm not talking about Vista).
>
> Most notably McAfee Security Centre which keeps popping up an annoying
> "register now or later?" dialogue box.
>
> So a clean re-install is currently in progress.

You can order with ``no security software'' if you check the box.

In any case, just refuse the EULA on the software that you wind up with,
and uninstall it from the control panel.

Norton, the last time I encountered it, uninstalled itself without a trace
when asked.

--


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Well, I wonder why they couldn't give us that option. Couldn't they, on
their order form, have a huge list of trialware and have us check what we
want or don't want?

Mel
"Journey" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:35:57 -0400, "Hank Arnold (MVP)"
> <> wrote:
>
>>http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...407dailynews2&
>
> Thanks Hank, I'm glad Dell is finally seeing the light.
>
> Of particular note:
>
> "The company says that consumers who buy PCs for personal use do
> express interest in preloaded trial software,"
>
> Sure, consumers do exist who are interested in it, but I'd like to see
> the statistical results of Dell's survey to support that it's a
> significant percentage of consumers.
>
> The way much of the "preloaded trial software" is set up on the Dell
> PCs is that they are not just trial, they are in-your-face intrusions,
> and for non-techy users, there often isn't enough information for them
> to be able to make an informed decision. Norton or McAfee fear,
> uncertainty, doubt.
>
> It's a no-brainer that small businesses should never have had to be
> subject to the trialware. Now Dell should at least package consumer
> trialware so that they can dynamically choose for it to be installed
> in the first place as options when a new PC starts (with the option to
> delay the decision).
>
> An argument made in favor of pre-installed trialware is that it makes
> consumer PCs less expensive due to Dell being reimbursed in some way
> by the companies that have the trialware installed. I don't know how
> much truth there is in that.

"Ron Hardin" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> You can order with ``no security software'' if you check the box.
>
> In any case, just refuse the EULA on the software that you wind up with,
> and uninstall it from the control panel.
>
> Norton, the last time I encountered it, uninstalled itself without a trace
> when asked.
>

Not on the UK site, there is no such option.

Plus there are no such EULAs displayed (with the exception of Google
Desktop) on this machine.

Ironically enough, the three times my machine has stopped working and Vista
has gone away to find a cause, it reports back that Google Desktop is the
culprit :-)

Ron Hardin wrote:
> Juan Kerr wrote:
>> My brand new Vostro 1700 laptop which arrived Thursday contains all manner
>> of crap (and, no, I'm not talking about Vista).
>>
>> Most notably McAfee Security Centre which keeps popping up an annoying
>> "register now or later?" dialogue box.
>>
>> So a clean re-install is currently in progress.
>
> You can order with ``no security software'' if you check the box.
>
> In any case, just refuse the EULA on the software that you wind up with,
> and uninstall it from the control panel.
>
> Norton, the last time I encountered it, uninstalled itself without a trace
> when asked.

Wow, nice change of pace from Norton.

What I would like to see is not trialware already installed, but the
option for consumers to install the trialware. There could be some
kind of program (opportunity possibly for someone who want to write
it) that shows all the trialware available, and a description of what
kind of trial it is (e.g. 30 days), what the software does, and what
it will cost if the consumer decides to keep it.

There are many advantages to this approach. Perhaps Dell and other
computer makers could continue to get money from the companies which
might reduce costs to consumers, and more trialware can be options
because it's not actually installed until the consumer choose it to
be.

A downside might be higher support calls from consumers prior to
installing the trialware, and potential conflicts from combinations of
trialware due to the difficulty testing all the permutations. Also,
if a consumer is given the option to have a trial of Norton and / or a
trial of McAfee, the trialware install program then gets more
complicated if it needs to determine if incompatible or reduntant
software might be installed.

As always, it's easier for me to sit here and say what should be done.
When it comes down to it, implementing it is much more complicated,
but in this case it might benefit Dell if having a good trialware
system might give it a competitive advantage in some way.

On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:35:52 -0400, "MZB" <>
wrote:

>Well, I wonder why they couldn't give us that option. Couldn't they, on
>their order form, have a huge list of trialware and have us check what we
>want or don't want?
>
>Mel
>"Journey" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:35:57 -0400, "Hank Arnold (MVP)"
>> <> wrote:
>>
>>>http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...407dailynews2&
>>
>> Thanks Hank, I'm glad Dell is finally seeing the light.
>>
>> Of particular note:
>>
>> "The company says that consumers who buy PCs for personal use do
>> express interest in preloaded trial software,"
>>
>> Sure, consumers do exist who are interested in it, but I'd like to see
>> the statistical results of Dell's survey to support that it's a
>> significant percentage of consumers.
>>
>> The way much of the "preloaded trial software" is set up on the Dell
>> PCs is that they are not just trial, they are in-your-face intrusions,
>> and for non-techy users, there often isn't enough information for them
>> to be able to make an informed decision. Norton or McAfee fear,
>> uncertainty, doubt.
>>
>> It's a no-brainer that small businesses should never have had to be
>> subject to the trialware. Now Dell should at least package consumer
>> trialware so that they can dynamically choose for it to be installed
>> in the first place as options when a new PC starts (with the option to
>> delay the decision).
>>
>> An argument made in favor of pre-installed trialware is that it makes
>> consumer PCs less expensive due to Dell being reimbursed in some way
>> by the companies that have the trialware installed. I don't know how
>> much truth there is in that.
>

I just got my Vostro 200 Desktop and I am like eh! - I thought they said
there was no trialware and low and behold a trial of McAfee was loaded on
there that I had to remove. so I don't know what they are going on about!

Andy.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Juan Kerr" <> wrote in message
newsVyAi.3351$ k...
>
> "Journey" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:35:57 -0400, "Hank Arnold (MVP)"
>> <> wrote:
>>
>>>http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...407dailynews2&
>>
>> Thanks Hank, I'm glad Dell is finally seeing the light.
>>
>
> My brand new Vostro 1700 laptop which arrived Thursday contains all manner
> of crap (and, no, I'm not talking about Vista).
>
> Most notably McAfee Security Centre which keeps popping up an annoying
> "register now or later?" dialogue box.
>
> So a clean re-install is currently in progress.

From Dell's point of view, giving many options for trialware really complicates
the final part of the system build process. If there is no option or maybe one
choice (trialware yes or no?), the factory can simply clone the software onto
hard drives. "trialware yes or no" means forking the production line to
install either trialware or not. If there are 8 pieces of trialware, then
there are a total of 256 possible software installs (do the math), not something
I'd ever want to manage.

Now the CLEVER way to do all this is to install one single mess of software on
the hard drive, then walk the buyer through the choices as to which trialware
he/she wants. If the buyer says no, the software is deleted. If the buyer
says yes, it stays. But if you were able to look closely at the various
contracts between Dell and the trailware companies, you would probably see that
Dell gets paid for each system shipped with trialware on it. Maybe 25 cents a
system, but multiply that by the number of systems Dell ships and the number of
crapware (oops! sorry, trialware), and you have a nice easy flow of money into
Dell's (or HPs, or Acer-eMach-way's or Sony's) coffers.

Do you think trialware is here to stay? Really, the easiest thing to do is to
uninstall what you don't want followed by a registry and junk file cleanup with
CCleaner. Doesn't take long at all compared to reinstalling from scratch.

.... Ben Myers


On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:35:52 -0400, "MZB" <> wrote:

>Well, I wonder why they couldn't give us that option. Couldn't they, on
>their order form, have a huge list of trialware and have us check what we
>want or don't want?
>
>Mel
>"Journey" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:35:57 -0400, "Hank Arnold (MVP)"
>> <> wrote:
>>
>>>http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...407dailynews2&
>>
>> Thanks Hank, I'm glad Dell is finally seeing the light.
>>
>> Of particular note:
>>
>> "The company says that consumers who buy PCs for personal use do
>> express interest in preloaded trial software,"
>>
>> Sure, consumers do exist who are interested in it, but I'd like to see
>> the statistical results of Dell's survey to support that it's a
>> significant percentage of consumers.
>>
>> The way much of the "preloaded trial software" is set up on the Dell
>> PCs is that they are not just trial, they are in-your-face intrusions,
>> and for non-techy users, there often isn't enough information for them
>> to be able to make an informed decision. Norton or McAfee fear,
>> uncertainty, doubt.
>>
>> It's a no-brainer that small businesses should never have had to be
>> subject to the trialware. Now Dell should at least package consumer
>> trialware so that they can dynamically choose for it to be installed
>> in the first place as options when a new PC starts (with the option to
>> delay the decision).
>>
>> An argument made in favor of pre-installed trialware is that it makes
>> consumer PCs less expensive due to Dell being reimbursed in some way
>> by the companies that have the trialware installed. I don't know how
>> much truth there is in that.
>