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Until their phone-home rootkit CDs[0]. Or is that also “listening to your customers?” /s

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootk...

Also, the VAIO line of laptops, while stylish, came to me to represent a total lack of support or interest in the customer aside from selling them a cool-looking machine.

Maybe it's related to the root-kit DRM, etc -- on looking back, maybe this reflected a mismatch of a company culture that was stuck in the hardware-focused customer experience (and where careful thought ended with the hardware), while the software was some add-on nuisance that would work itself out.

Sony had a golden age in the 80s when they were making quality hardware for reasonable prices. It was unfortunately brief.

By the late 90s, Sony was such a huge company with so many competing interests that I'm surprised they didn't accidentally sue themselves during the digital music fiasco.

Some of those VAIO laptops really pushed the envelope, in terms of packing a lot of computer in to a small package. They were great when everything worked, but could be a real pain to repair.

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