I'll offer one useful alternative: better software integration, and use their scale to push MS into tighter integration with HP's own software. This advice applies to Dell as well.
Suggesting that HP should build its own OS is a pipe dream, and completely unrealistic. They will be running Windows for the foreseeable future. The question is: why do they have to run the same shitty old Windows that everyone else is running?
I just had the fortune of happening upon a decent Gateway desktop at a bargain-basement price, and the sheer lack of software integration is appalling to someone who's been using a Mac for the past 4 years.
Let me enumerate some concrete examples:
- Display settings are handled by vendor-specific utilities that have zero UI consistency between Windows and the actual computer manufacturer (Dell, HP, etc).
- Sound settings are handled by vendor-specific utilities and drivers that are also not configurable in a consistent way. On a HP machine practically nothing is badged "HP" except the box itself - and certainly the usability reflects this.
- Complete utter reliance on third party (both in brand and design) software that fails to integrate deeply into the OS. The whole experience feels very jarring - because it's really a bunch of code haphazardly stuck together without any thought or concern.
Imagine if you buy a Windows laptop from, say, Dell, and out of the box you get a nice Dell splashscreen, and a streamlined setup process that takes care of all your basic configs transparently (as opposed to default Windows, which loads a ton of setup upfront for clueless users)? How about the ability to use your hardware volume up/down buttons without terrible screen flickering (bad drivers)?
There are a bajillion ways that all of the standard PC manufacturers can use software to compete in the marketplace - they simply aren't doing so right now.
Of course not, the real problem is that hardware makers generally don't do good software. By good software I mean useful and elegant, there's a reason there's products like PC-decrapifier out there.
> HP made news this week for unveiling a Windows 7 launch bundle at Best Buy that includes a desktop PC and two laptops, all for $1199. That might be great for Microsoft...
The OS vendor wins when computer hardware becomes a commodity. The implication is that HP (or a company like them, HP is just being used as an example here) should make their own OS. Actually, in the preceding paragraph, he more than implies that. He pretty much states it explicitly. We need more players willing to make desktop OSes to force the existing players to innovate more.
