Should Hardware Drivers be Region/Language Locked?

An anonymous reader asks: "Recently, I have purchased Sony's new Hi-MD player. I popped in their driver CD, and instead of installer launching, I was greeted by the message, 'Cannot install for this Windows language.' It seems like it rejected installation, because my default language setting is Japanese, although I am using English version of Windows. I got the response from Sony stating that: 'If you are using a different language set up for your computer, you will not be able to use the software supplied with the product. Unfortunately, currently there is no workaround for this issue. The only option would be to change the language setting of your computer.' Now I'm asking for my money back. The hardware device is practically useless without the software installation, and it seems like they are going too far, especially since this may affect anyone who uses more than one languages on their computer. Isn't this discrimination to multi-lingual people living in the targeted market? And isn't it unfair to impose such restrictions on software that is required to use hardware?"

Comments

not sure if this is lock out

[Siniset]

our just poor Q and A on the install process... my guess is just a bug in the install process that doesn't allow the install to happen if it runs into a non-english language. it really wouldn't make sense to try and lock out users just based on their language. just My two cents.

change the OS settings just for the install

[Nyder]

You can just change your OS settings for the install. then change it back.

I think it was CloneCD that had some functions that were illegal in the US and some countries, so if you installed the software in those countries, some features would be disabled. So I'd just change my settings to that have The Netherlands and installed the software (all features enable) changed the setting back and still had access to all the features.

So go to the control panel and change the region settings, install the software, change them back and injoy.

In case it doesn't work when you change it back, then don't. you don't have to have the region settings and language/fonts match. so you can have the computer think it's in japan but using Italian if you like...