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Comment by tyho | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft seems to have a vice like grip over OEM's regarding preloading windows on every product they sell without exception, IMHO this is a terrible thing, but can't they do at least a little good and prevent OEM's from shipping anything other than a pristine image with no preloaded software?

Surely the endless bundled crapware from every OEM just gives Windows a bad reputation in the long term. The popularity of chromebooks now are a testament to that.

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They tried dictating what vendors could pre-load, and were taken to court by the US Justice Dept, along with a large number of states AGs.

Correct. So OEMs can load whatever crapware they like, and Microsoft doesn't even know what they're loading. The idea of a "vice like grip" is nonsense.

What Microsoft does instead is offer Signature editions that are crapware free....

No, they can't. The key crime in the antitrust trial was Microsoft preventing OEMs from installing additional software (Netscape).

Perhaps Microsoft could put out a security update to remove any Superfish certificates left. Still after the fact, but better than doing nothing (and leaving these suspicious certs around).

The Android ecosystem is suffering the same problem.

Exactly. If I were CEO of Microsoft now I'd terminate Lenovo's Windows OEM contract just for tarnishing the reputation of Windows.

That would probably put Lenovo out of business, actually. Might get other OEMs to take notice too :)

Windows is openly licensed. You just roll up to the website and sign up, then you can do what you like.

Under the US Government-imposed anti-trust rules, Microsoft wasn't even allowed to charge the top OEMs different prices. Otherwise it could have discriminated against the "bad" ones.

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