My Tablet PC Show co-host James Kendrick has posted a powerful open letter to Microsoft asking that they solve a problem that confounds, frustrates, and infuriates too many PC owners. The problem is the false economy practiced by too many OEMS who ship only a recovery disk (or worse, force their customers to make their own) instead of including a bootable Windows CD to repair problems with the operating system.

No, the problem is not completely exclusive to Tablet PC users. It's just an even more insurmountable problem because we don't even have the unacceptable option of running down to the local big box store to buy a copy of the OS for our Tablet PCs. It's not a retail product. The only way I know of to get a full installation CD for the Tablet PC Edition of Windows XP is to have an MSDN subscription.

James begins his open letter with the following. Please go read the whole thing.

"Dear Whomever at Microsoft is responsible for determining requirements for OEM recovery system distribution:

I trust that you follow the blogosphere (as mandated by Robert Scoble) and the myriad of complaints about the difficulty owners have with recovering from various problems that Windows XP creates for Tablet PC owners.  Eric Mack has detailed on his blog his problems with an operating system failure while traveling and his inability to recover from the problem.  This letter is not about Eric Mack as similar problems are encountered by hundreds if not thousands of Tablet PC owners all the time.  The heart of the problem has a simple solution that only you, Microsoft, can address and rather easily."