Bundling Software is a BAD idea

Okay I just bought an HP Compaq laptop. It's a good machine. When I placed the order I was buying a laptop with 1 gig of RAM, 80 gig HD, Microsoft Vista Premium. I got so much more, problem is I didn't want it.

How can I present the problem? Imagine you go to the doctor and you have a splinter in your finger. You want the splinter out. The doctor examines you and says "We have to amputate your arm." You'd think he's crazy.

So I start up my laptop and there in my Start bar is Yahoo! Desktop search. I don't have anything in particular against Yahoo! it's just that their search results are not as good as Google's. Period. So I want it off. It's not that I want Google there either, I just don't want ANYBODY there. So I go to remove it. Can't. Not anywhere to be found. It's part of HP Total Care Adviser. A piece of software that also gives me updates on my hardware from the manufacturer - something I DO want. Can I just set preferences somewhere? Nope. So for the one thing I want it to do, I have to put up with a whole bunch of things I don't want it to do.

So it's gone.

In a better world, I would have either...

a) Gotten to choose which pieces of software I wanted to install in the first place

-or-

b) Had to option to selectively remove the programs I don't want, like Yahoo! Desktop Search.

Adobe recently got a taste of bad bundling. They put a button linking to Kinko's FedEx for printing, which created an uproar with competing printers who use Adobe products. That button is gone, but Adobe is still one of the worst about "over" installing software. I'm loading the trial of Fireworks CS3 right now, and it couldn't install with FireFox running - why? And I know that when I'm done I'll also have Adobe Bridge which I don't want. Why not just let me take it off. I'll also have an Apple network scanner and the very annoying Adobe Updater which I guess is a necessary evil. Macromedia had a much better solution of just checking for updates when you run the program and letting you know, and you could optionally download. Easy.

The whole experience with the new Adobe expansive install has me so completely turned off to them that if I didn't love Fireworks so much I wouldn't have a single Adobe product on my machine. And be sure, as soon as I can find something that does what Fireworks does - they'll be gone. Sorry Macromedia - we miss you.

To all you manufacturers out there you are shooting yourself in the foot. Stop installing search toolbars, and other crap. Stay OUT of the task tray. Check for updates when the software runs. You are chasing off more customers by taking away their control than you are keeping.

Just run the freaking program.