Loosing "Craplets"

It looks like Dell is listening - they have come out with the "Vostro" line of desktops for small business. The really cool thing is that they are not shipping any trialware on this line of machines (which Walt Mossberg refers to as "craplets").

This is significant because it indicates that we have come full-circle. Everyone wanted to get their trialware on Dell machines - it was like a comic getting called over to Johnny Carson's desk after their bit - it meant you had arrived. Unfortunately, Dell (and others) took advantage of this, and saturated the market so customers became so frusterated with all of the stupid apps that they didn't request, but yet had to remove from their machine, that we have now come full-circle, and it is "big news" that Dell is shippinng a computer without them.

As a customer, I am very glad about this switch, and I hope others follow suit. As a software guy who has tried to get small businesses up and running, I believe that we will have to get more creative regarding our marketing and delivery mechanisms now.

All in all, this is a very good thing.