Eric Mack Throws Some Shame Toshiba's Way. Will It Stick?

The answer to the question in the title of this post is that I very much doubt it.

I posted about Eric's predicament when his Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet PC crashed earlier today. When he tried to get his system back up and running he discovered, (like I suspected) that he couldn't do so with the recovery disks. He needed a Master Boot Disk. Toshiba (and some other OEM's) don't provide those for some insane reason.

So, what's a user to do?

Eric's latest post has comments about a variety of backup and image solutions, all of which I am sure Eric is aware. And, as he says, he will be able to get his system up and running again, with or without Toshiba/Microsoft's help. That is not the point, even though I am sure that some tech support guy/gal somewhere will toss that out as a solution.

The point is simple. It is a despicable practice not to provide the end user with a boot disk that allows one to reinstall or repair a botched system. Eric casts shame Toshiba's way. They need much more than that. This is the second post today that I have written this statement. And end user should not have to become a geek in order to use a Tablet PC. (Yes, I know other non-Tablet systems do not come with original disks and that just amplifies the point.)

C'mon Toshiba get smart for a change. You make incredible hardware. You bloat it up with CRAPWARE and you don't support it properly. Hell, you don't even have a consistent tech support response to most issues, forcing users to roll the dice when they call, hoping they get someone who can solve a problem. Too bad, you can't see the forest for the trees, or should I say, you can't see the users for the customer support problems.

Remember this post? No More Mr. Nice Guy, Toshiba. Well, the client I referred to in that post, took his business elsewhere, Toshiba. Why? I could not in good conscience recommend Toshiba service to him for such a large ($37,000 and change) investment.

Here's a hunch. The first OEM that comes out with a Tablet PC in the M200 range of size and power that includes a high res screen (what is it with all these low res new Tablet PCs anyway?) will leave Toshiba in the dust. If that OEM can cut through the red tape with Microsoft and offer boot disks with their package, they will have the better mousetrap. Maybe Toshiba and Microsoft are just too big to hear the problems or to care. Maybe it takes more market saturation before the big names jump up and down on Toshiba about these kind of issues they way they recently pummeled Dell on customer support. I don't know.

I do know this. The practice of not including a boot disk, like filling a recovery disk with CRAPWARE, is wrong and should be stopped. Shame? It is tough to cast shame when the party who should be shamed won't even deign to acknowledge you are talking to them. Some may call that good business practice. I call that cowardice.