Microsoft Signature Edition
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So what do you guys think about this?
For those who don't know, Signature Edition is where MS sells a device with Windows installed and no crapware. Just Windows. They also talk about optimizations, etc they have done to make the system even faster.
Paul Thurrott was talking on Windows Weekly the other day that he believes (and I tend to agree) that many people have bad experiences with Windows because of all of the crap ware that manufactures spew all over their machines. Windows itself is fine, but since the vendor is trying to scratch out ever last cent from a sale they include all this garbage for extra revenue.
Do you agree that Windows would be a better platform if not for this preinstalled junk? And even if the platform itself wouldn't be better, would the general user experience be better?
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Sounds like something they should have done in Windows 98 moving forward
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This is some place that Apple has always won, just like the iPhone, iPad, etc... they don't have to worry about outsiders because they are the only distributor of their goods.
Apple has never cared about the little man, they (at least under Jobs) only cared about putting out a great product.
Considering that MS is concerned about cost, and gaining sales from numbers, not revenue from high profit models, I'm guessing this is something they won't try to control. Instead they will (and clearly have) noticed a desire in a small part of the population who are possibly willing to pay a bit more to have a clean machine from the start.
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This might be a great step in stability. Most of the reasons why Windows seems unstable is other crud on a machine. So I think this is a great step.
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Exactly - Could you imagine how different the world would feel if all received clean machines on day one.. and we just crapped them up ourselves... just like a mac? Granted, the lack of a registry probably makes the mac less prone to windows rot, but I've heard it does still happen a bit.
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That would be awesome! I would love to NOT have to do a fresh install of OS on a brand new machine, before I even get it setup for a customer or employee.
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As I've always promoted, everyone (IT pros, home users, etc.) should always reinstall their OS (and for servers, set up their own RAID) from scratch and never accept pre-installed systems. All Microsoft is doing is doing half of what I already consider a best practice and most people have always had at their disposal if they just bothered a little.
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@Minion-Queen said:
That would be awesome! I would love to NOT have to do a fresh install of OS on a brand new machine, before I even get it setup for a customer or employee.
Still good to do though, it is an important "dry run" to know that everything works and that you are able to recover in an emergency.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Minion-Queen said:
That would be awesome! I would love to NOT have to do a fresh install of OS on a brand new machine, before I even get it setup for a customer or employee.
Still good to do though, it is an important "dry run" to know that everything works and that you are able to recover in an emergency.
What are you dry running? The fact that you know you can get the drivers and that they do really work? OK I guess that does have value, but if MS is supplying (or a good manufacturer) a clean build, you could just image that build as is for your backup.
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But who supplies a clean build today? Now if that changes, that helps. But yes, ensuring drivers and processes are there for a rebuild. You need to be able to rebuild a machine. If you can't, you want to know that there are challenges before you rely on the machine and before it becomes critical. If the machine never matters, then I suppose whatever. But in a business, machines always have a financial value and at home people rarely stock up on lots of spare computers.
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You still need to be sure that you can re-image a machine too. Generally that is pretty safe, but not always ideal either. You are getting closer to it being worth not rebuilding, but the number of times that you want to are pretty high. Even if it is only because a new OS has released or because it is 'time' for a rebuild. Or because you want to make sure that everything is set up just how you want it.
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@scottalanmiller said:
But who supplies a clean build today?
Microsoft - Paul or Mary Jo Foley mentioned another vendor (maybe Amazon) was also a source for Signature machines.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
But who supplies a clean build today?
Microsoft - Paul or Mary Jo Foley mentioned another vendor (maybe Amazon) was also a source for Signature machines.
Yeah I heard that...I think it was a case of someone buying a signature edition and then reselling on Amazon...
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@garak0410 said:
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
But who supplies a clean build today?
Microsoft - Paul or Mary Jo Foley mentioned another vendor (maybe Amazon) was also a source for Signature machines.
Yeah I heard that...I think it was a case of someone buying a signature edition and then reselling on Amazon...
Aww.. that would make sense. It would be awesome if Signature Edition was some sort of signoff by MS that anyone could sell, even if it was 2% more expensive I'd gladly do it! I might be willing to go 5%.
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@scottalanmiller said:
As I've always promoted, everyone (IT pros, home users, etc.) should always reinstall their OS (and for servers, set up their own RAID) from scratch and never accept pre-installed systems. All Microsoft is doing is doing half of what I already consider a best practice and most people have always had at their disposal if they just bothered a little.
I agree with this completely. The problem is today many machines don't come with restore media, and even if it did, it would be on DVD and ultrabooks don't have CD-Roms anymore. Top this with people are just afraid of their computers because, let's face it, they don't understand how they work and don't care to either.
If the reinstall media had all the drivers included, then perhaps it would work, but generally that's not the case anymore. When you get reinstall media, you get a Windows disk and a separate drivers/junk install disk. -
@Dashrender said:
@garak0410 said:
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
But who supplies a clean build today?
Microsoft - Paul or Mary Jo Foley mentioned another vendor (maybe Amazon) was also a source for Signature machines.
Yeah I heard that...I think it was a case of someone buying a signature edition and then reselling on Amazon...
Aww.. that would make sense. It would be awesome if Signature Edition was some sort of signoff by MS that anyone could sell, even if it was 2% more expensive I'd gladly do it! I might be willing to go 5%.
I am glad to see this "Signature Edition." A "pure" Windows PC is one of the reasons my Surface Pro 3 consistently runs well. And I sort of like the Microsoft Store (Online)...their customer service is bad if only for the fact they are in India and don't know much beyond their "scripts" they have to follow...
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The signature editions are the ones you buy from the Microsoft store. Either the regional retail locations or the online one.
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I think this would benefit Mr. Average Joe.... a lot.
Better still, BAN THE CRAPWARE straight from the manufacturer. Want to sell PC's with Windows? Don't install anything other than drivers. The end. -
@Kelly said:
The signature editions are the ones you buy from the Microsoft store. Either the regional retail locations or the online one.
What devices will they be selling?
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I didn't know this, according to this article,, Signature started out as a service where you could bring your computer to MS and they would remove the crapware from it.
I happen to agree with the article - that was definitely the wrong way to go for MS. The new way of selling machines (Surface Pro line, HP Stream etc - here is a link to others on MS's site) is a lot better, though I would be happy if they required the vendors to offer this direct.
