In January of 2013 I bought one of your X1 Carbon
However, given your apparent aim at business class customers, at least with respect to the more costly models, I question your decision to litter up your products with bloatware.
I think that you might consider the example set by Google’s Nexus series of Android devices. The attraction of the Nexus series is the pure-Android experience, without any added bloatware.
Kit Kat (Android 4.4) on my Nexus 4 not too long after that release launched in September 2013. Nine months later there are still many mainstream devices that are waiting on Kit Kat!
In the earliest days of Android a case could be made for augmenting the core OS to provide a more refined user experience. From the Jelly Bean release (Android 4.1) onward that argument no longer holds water.
Software updates…that’s what bugs me about the stuff you loaded on my X1 Carbon. There are typically more updates to the manufacturer installed software than to the tools that I actually need. It’s infuriating when my flow, no…my personal productivity, is interrupted by a request to update an updater! That’s an Adobe-class irritant!
There X1 Carbon arrived running Windows 7 Pro, which is exactly what I needed at the time. There was this crazy “App Store” layered onto the system that was just completely worthless to me. Happily, when I eventually migrated the system to Windows 8.x that afterthought app store died in the process.
You have great hardware. Play to your strengths. Leverage the KISS principle. I’d suggest that your goal should be to minimize the amount of data that you load to the system. Given that SSDs are smaller than hard drives minimizing your use of storage just seems sensible.
Further, the less you add to the system the less likely anything is going to be an annoyance. You’re responsible for what’s there when the device arrives. I can’t rationally blame you for what’s not there. If I need some administrative tool, I’ll install it. OK?
I know that you need to be responsible about the execution of this strategy. I’m not suggesting that you ship systems without some kind of anti-virus trial. That would be irresponsible.
Perhaps you’ll lose a little revenue from partners seeking to peddle trials of their software. Don’t worry about that. Appreciative customers will help you make it up once it’s broadly known that you respect our time…now just cut out the crapware.