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.

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.

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.