I have a new $2500 Sony Vaio. I repartitioned it so that the C: drive is 14.6GB, way more than enough for the OS (WinXP Home). I then installed an illegal version of Win XP Pro (I did not know it was illegal at the time) on the disk to avoid all the crapware that comes with the Vaio Recovery disk. I also got rid of the hidden partition.
Now I want to re-install the XP Home that came with the computer because Micro$oft demands legal XP to allow downloads, and because the installation of XP I have is a bit rusty. (Yes, I know there are ways around this but I just wanted to have a legal version, ok?)
NO CAN DO. The Recovery disks from Sony want to destroy all my partitions with my very valuable data. Or, if you go for the C: drive only restore option, the error message "C drive does not exist or drive is too small" stops me going any further!
I spoke to "Terry" (what a f*ckin' idiot) at Sony Support who put me through to "Bob" (CU7B in Florida). They basically told me that their ****ed up version of WinXP wants 15.8GB for the C drive to install XP plus the Sony crapware. I said my C drive is not that large, although at 14.6GB it is far, far bigger than what is needed to install XP. He said: "Go buy another copy of Windows then". I said I'd already bought a copy of WinXP when I bought the computer. He seemed bored and uninterested in anything I had to say. He was rude and dismissive. He then told me: "Go buy another hard drive and back everything up to that, then repartition your C drive and move everything back".
IOW, I can go take a hike. He was completely unwilling to do anything for me; he refused to send me a proper copy of Windows, and he refused to acknowledge that the hidden parameters of the Sony-crippled version of XP amount to a bug to many users. What a prick.
I asked who else I could speak to, and he said "Nobody. I'm the highest you can go." You could hear the smug satisfaction when he said that.
If Sony wants to know why they are losing market share, look no further than your customer service.
BTW, my 3 month old Vaio has just had its malfunctioning DVD/RW drive replaced. It came back in a box that looked like it was used for a football match. The PC itself was dirty and had workshop stickers still on it, and the power cord was so tightly wound up that it is permanently kinked like a telephone cord now. Grrr!
Conclusion: They won't send me a clean version of Win XP because Micro****ingSoft does not allow them to do it (quoth Bob). Why? Because M$ is so greedy that they don't want anyone with an OEM version of Windows that can install onto more than one PC. So what do people do? THEY PIRATE THE ****ING SOFTWARE! Microsoft's greed is sending people rushing to pirate Windows. Poetic justice?
Now I want to re-install the XP Home that came with the computer because Micro$oft demands legal XP to allow downloads, and because the installation of XP I have is a bit rusty. (Yes, I know there are ways around this but I just wanted to have a legal version, ok?)
NO CAN DO. The Recovery disks from Sony want to destroy all my partitions with my very valuable data. Or, if you go for the C: drive only restore option, the error message "C drive does not exist or drive is too small" stops me going any further!
I spoke to "Terry" (what a f*ckin' idiot) at Sony Support who put me through to "Bob" (CU7B in Florida). They basically told me that their ****ed up version of WinXP wants 15.8GB for the C drive to install XP plus the Sony crapware. I said my C drive is not that large, although at 14.6GB it is far, far bigger than what is needed to install XP. He said: "Go buy another copy of Windows then". I said I'd already bought a copy of WinXP when I bought the computer. He seemed bored and uninterested in anything I had to say. He was rude and dismissive. He then told me: "Go buy another hard drive and back everything up to that, then repartition your C drive and move everything back".
IOW, I can go take a hike. He was completely unwilling to do anything for me; he refused to send me a proper copy of Windows, and he refused to acknowledge that the hidden parameters of the Sony-crippled version of XP amount to a bug to many users. What a prick.
I asked who else I could speak to, and he said "Nobody. I'm the highest you can go." You could hear the smug satisfaction when he said that.
If Sony wants to know why they are losing market share, look no further than your customer service.
BTW, my 3 month old Vaio has just had its malfunctioning DVD/RW drive replaced. It came back in a box that looked like it was used for a football match. The PC itself was dirty and had workshop stickers still on it, and the power cord was so tightly wound up that it is permanently kinked like a telephone cord now. Grrr!
Conclusion: They won't send me a clean version of Win XP because Micro****ingSoft does not allow them to do it (quoth Bob). Why? Because M$ is so greedy that they don't want anyone with an OEM version of Windows that can install onto more than one PC. So what do people do? THEY PIRATE THE ****ING SOFTWARE! Microsoft's greed is sending people rushing to pirate Windows. Poetic justice?
