Watch out for HP/Compaq PCsMay 22 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Make sure you get a "real" copy of the Operating System on CD
Permit me space for a rant, but have computer makers suddenly, and without warning, sort of lost their minds when it comes to customer service? Some of that is expected given cost-cutting that has gone on in the computer world. (When PCs cost $4,000 each, there were more people manning the phones.) But recent actions by Hewlett-Packard have me wondering if anyone is home in the front offices (or if they are so busy trying to buy Compaq that they forgot about customers). If you are not aware, there is a huge push from Microsoft to not let computer makers give end-users (that is, you and me) copies of the operating system on CD-ROM when we buy a PC. Microsoft assumes most of us are thieves and will turn around and install the OS on a dozen computers at home and at work. To get around that problem, many makers had turned to giving users "recovery CDs" that included the operating system. If your PC's hard drive died, for example, you would install the new drive and insert the recovery CD. That would install your computer back to the way it was when it left the factory. Because it reformatted the hard drive, the CD was not readily usable on other computers to upgrade an operating system. Now that Windows XP has hit the shelves, it seems HP has lost its grip. Its new Pavilion PCs are not even shipping with a recovery CD. Instead, HP has "hidden" the files on a secret 4-gig partition of the hard drive. If you need to reinstall the operating system, you are given instructions on how to access the files. (You hit the F10 key repeatedly at first-boot, by the way.) Um, but what if the hard drive dies? HP's first answer was hilarious: Order a new hard drive from us and we will install the operating system on it for you. After computer hobbyists went ballistic over that answer, HP scrambled to come up with Plan B: Call us and if you can convince us you really do need the disc, we will give it to "selected customers" for $10. But only if you can convince HP tech support that you need it, right now, not for "just-in-case" situations. (HP actually said, in writing, it did not want to offer discs to consumers because "discs are easily destroyed by scratches" and "can get lost" and "fail after prolonged exposure to sunlight.") I think they forgot reason 1 : "We're cheap!" This is not exactly customer support. First of all, users deserve the 4 gigs of drive space that HP has hidden. Secondly, consumers paid the license fee for the operating system. And lastly, one should not have to convince the phone clerk that you deserve a copy of your own operating system and then wait weeks to get it. Especially in light of Windows XP's draconian copy protection and registration policies, it is pretty unlikely that people are going to do multiple installs anyway. But HP really needs to rethink this boneheaded move.  |
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