PC MAKER LENOVO has revealed that all of its ThinkPad laptops and ThinkCentre desktop PCs will now come with Skype pre-installed.
According to Skype's chief blogger Peter Parkes, "If you're fortunate enough to get your hands on a Lenovo ThinkPad or ThinkCentre for your home or office, be sure to keep an eye out for Skype."
Of course, if you don't fall into this category, then the popular VoIP software can always be freely downloaded from Skype's website.
The announcement means that those hoping for a fresh Windows install, free of clutter or any applications beyond those they choose to install, might want to look elsewhere - however PC makers offering such a package are becoming increasingly thin on the ground.
Neither Lenovo nor Skype mentioned what the deal entailed in terms of benefits for Lenovo, but the fact that the firms share the same PR company, at least in Europe, raised a few eyebrows around the office. µ
Just one more piece of junk software I'll have to uninstall before the thinkpad is usable. Most of the 'Thinkvantage' software is useless too.
So when i boot it up the first time it saves me no time as i will still need to download the latest version.
Why bundle this app anyway when these laptops are usually sold to companies that will just push it out with a image disk with all their software.
I remember when we used to get the "mostly useless" free software with every new machine. Most of it was complete rubbish at best or a cripple-ware promotional tease for a full blown product you had to buy.
With the pre-install of Skype we see a genuinely useful free (for skype-to-skype) voip application that has proven it's popularity.
What I'd like to see now is for PC makers like Lenovo, Dell, HP, Asus, etc to pre-load some Open Source software like OpenOffice.org, or Sumatra PDF, Scribus desktop publishing, Firefox web browser, Clamwin anti-virus, etc.
because they have disabled stereo mix on the internal sound card on all their laptops......wonder why?