Summary:

I recently got hold of an HP Media Center PC - a1720n.  There is so much junk in the preload.  If I bought this, and this was my first taste of Vista, I would return it and buy a Macintosh.  No wonder people hate Vista.

Background:

This a1720n Media Center PC is running Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM).  It is a Core 2 Duo 1.86 GHz with 1 GB DDR2 RAM, a 320 GB HDD, DVD-DL, Intel 945 onboard graphics, 10/100 ethernet, media card reader, 56k modem, etc.  4 SATA ports.  A decent system.

Comments:

Toolbars are coming out of the system.  I! opened! the! case! and! discovered! a! Yahoo! toolbar! in! the! CPU! cooling! fan!  Norton wants to activate a 60 day trial.  HP welcome center wants me to make a backup DVD set of my computer; I placed a blank in the drive, waited for it compile files.  The burn failed at 2% on Verbatim media when the application crashed.  I'm told to sign up for a high speed internet connection since I decided not to plug this infested machine into my LAN right away.  A pre-installed DVD MPEG2 decoder breaks the Windows built-in decoder; I can't even watch a DVD.  I don't want to Get Vonage, and I don't want to Sign Up for AOL.  Yes, I know my HP warranty is active.  No, I don't want to make a backup of my computer, and no I don't want to try 100's of games.  I don't have a printer installed... and no I don't want to buy one now.  I'm running low on disk space!  Apparently, the recovery partition (which is tiny partition) only has 14% free!  Didn't this computer come with 320 gigabytes or megabytes or whatever that stuff is called?

Icons are everywhere, flashing buttons, trial software... The desktop looks like a teenager's face with a serious acne problem.

If this is the way people - HP, in this case - sell PCs, people will continue to hate Bill Gates.  No, I don't see a sudden marketshare drop; most people have accepted that their computers will not function the way they want... and these are the people who are too lazy to do anything about it.  But for those who have had enough... they will switch to company that sells machines that work.  Out of the box.  And since this will be chalked up to Bill Gates' fault, that means that Steve has a new "convert".

The inherant problem with Windows is not the operating system itself.  With the release of Vista, it's not even the applications, viruses, or the hardware/driver problems.  It's the OEMs that are paid to install junk on the system, ruining the OOBE (out of box experience) that Microsoft worked so hard to develop.  They've stomped all over the fit and polish.

People who try other platforms aren't "converts" - they've just had enough of junk in the preload.

Conclusion:

I'm placing my Vista media in the drive now, and formatting the machine with a fresh, clean copy of Windows Vista Home Premium, using the license code on the side of the machine.

If you own this model computer, I suggest you do the same.  If you don't own a copy of the clean Vista install DVD, don't ask the people at the Genius Bar.  They won't be much help, I'm afraid.