Sony Really Doesn’t Get It

Sony, the company that killed off HD DVD in hopes people would buy into Blu-ray and even was passing around rootkits for a time is now back in action. This time, Sony has figured out the ultimate way to piss off its customers: It’s opted to disable hardware virtualization on its VAIO line of computers.

Yes folks, you too can purchase a copy of Windows 7 on your VAIO only to discover that it will not support hardware virtualization out of the box. In order to bypass Sony’s lock, you essentially have to hack past the block. To make matters worse, none of this was made clear in the new VAIO advertising.

Surely Windows is at fault here? Nope, this is not Microsoft’s fault at all — it did nothing wrong here. No, this is the BIOS on the VAIO creating this problem for you. Worse, getting past this block actually means hacking the BIOS with a DOS boot disk. Clearly, this is what the person who just spent money on one of Sony’s overpriced laptops is looking for… yeah, not so much.

• Vostro A90 Netbook
• Vostro A90 Netbook
• 2133 Mini-Note Silver Netbook
• Eee PC 1008HA Netbook
• Eee PC 701SD Netbook
• 13.3″ MacBook Pro Notebook
• VAIO VGN-NW270F/S Notebook
• Inspiron Mini 10v Netbook
• Pavilion dv4-1540us Notebook
• MacBook Notebook
• Pavilion dm3-1030us Notebook
• G71-340US Notebook
• Aspire AO751h-1279 Netbook
• mini NB205-N210 Netbook
• Eee PC 1005HA Seashell Netbook
• Satellite L505D-S5983 Notebook
• G60-530us Notebook
• Aspire One AOD250-1116 Netbook
• 12.1″ iBook G3 Notebook
• G550 Notebook
• Eee PC 900 Netbook
• Mini 110-1030NR Netbook
• Mini 311-1025NR Netbook
• Aspire One AOD250-1326 Netbook
• ThinkPad T400 Notebook