Re: Gateway Upgrade Policy for MCE 2005

From: Bill Sharpe (eschol_at_remove_this.shinbiro.com)
Date: 11/10/04 

Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 20:03:10 +0900

Mike,

Interested in a tap dancing job? You are the best I've seen by a long shot.

Bill

"Mike Brannigan [MSFT]" <mikebran@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:ecUru4vxEHA.1452@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> "Whiting Toler" <whiting_hatesspam@whitingandtracy.com> wrote in message
> news:4ced01c4c6bd$d67cacb0$a601280a@phx.gbl...
>> Please see the Gateway Support FAQ at the bottom of this
>> post. Is this what MS intended the early adopter
>> experience to be? This amounts to a bait-and-switch by
>> Gateway with MS having plausible deniability via its OEM-
>> only model.
>>
>> http://support.gateway.com/s/software/MICROSOF/7513249/751
>> 3249faq220.shtml
>>
>> Can someone from MS please respond directly to this?
>> Also, please tell us why MCE could not be sold off the
>> shelf with a Hardware Compatability List as waas done
>> with the NT line? Furthermore, what's to stop MS from
>> offering the upgrade directly, this wouldn't require the
>> OEM to support it and MS could include "upgrade at your
>> own risk" disclaimers. I think all of us (Gateway
>> customers or not) should continue to ask these questions
>> until we get a satisfactory response.
>>
>
> According to the link you have posted - it appears that Gateway have
> chosen to only supply MCE 2005 on new systems. This is within their
> rights to do this. At no point in your purchase of your existing Media
> Center PC from Gateway did they promise a free (or chargeable) upgrade to
> an future MCE products.
> One reason that MCE is available as an OEM product is that given the
> hardware restrictions and requirements the best people to support this
> product are the OEMs who will ship a device of a precisely know spec (from
> them) which will allow them to provide the best degree of support for that
> known platform.
> It is possible that Gateway have chosen to only offer MCE 2005 as a
> preinstalled OS as this will allow then to know precisely the
> configuration of those devices from a support perspective.
>
> As regards your question about just making MCE available retail with an
> HCL, most of our NT based opertaing systems have had an HCL in the past
> and this has not prevented persons trying to install products on
> unsupported systems etc. If MCE was made available retail then the burden
> of support would fall back to Microsoft and we would have to deal with a
> most diverse set of hardware configurations for a product that does have
> specific requirements. This would lead to both customer dissatisfaction
> and also the retailers potentially receiving a high number of returns of
> products due to end user purchase without understanding the full
> ramifications of their actions. You should note that the vast majority of
> purchases of operating systems are not technically savvy persons capable
> of installing and configuring their own hardware and operating systems.
> OEM only shipments allow for a better end user experience for the majority
> of customers. For the technically savvy their is always the option of the
> self build route (and obvious support issues this will bring) so toady you
> can already purchase MCE 2005 as an OEM CD set - this is a choice open to
> you.
>
> So as it stands now - if you OEM chooses to not provide an upgrade path
> and you are willing to take the risk and loss of support then you can
> perform your own install with the purchase of the OEM CD set from anyone
> of a number of outlets. So in effect the second half of your question is
> that you can buy an upgrade that you install at your own risk.
>
>
> --
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike
> --
> Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights
>
> Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
> newsgroups
>
> "Whiting Toler" <whiting_hatesspam@whitingandtracy.com> wrote in message
> news:4ced01c4c6bd$d67cacb0$a601280a@phx.gbl...
>> Please see the Gateway Support FAQ at the bottom of this
>> post. Is this what MS intended the early adopter
>> experience to be? This amounts to a bait-and-switch by
>> Gateway with MS having plausible deniability via its OEM-
>> only model.
>>
>> http://support.gateway.com/s/software/MICROSOF/7513249/751
>> 3249faq220.shtml
>>
>> Can someone from MS please respond directly to this?
>> Also, please tell us why MCE could not be sold off the
>> shelf with a Hardware Compatability List as waas done
>> with the NT line? Furthermore, what's to stop MS from
>> offering the upgrade directly, this wouldn't require the
>> OEM to support it and MS could include "upgrade at your
>> own risk" disclaimers. I think all of us (Gateway
>> customers or not) should continue to ask these questions
>> until we get a satisfactory response.
>>
>>
>>
>> "Q: Can I upgrade my Media Center Edition 2004 operating
>> system to Media Center Edition 2005?
>>
>> A: No. The Media Center Edition 2005 operating system
>> software that is offered on new Gateway computers is a
>> completely new operating system, and is not available for
>> upgrades. This software is only available from Gateway on
>> new computers, and is not available through Microsoft or
>> through retail channels.
>> The only way to receive Media Center 2005 from Gateway is
>> to purchase a new computer with it preinstalled."
>
>