Some Suggestions for Your TERRIBLE WEBSITE
Dell Web Site submitted by jaws4096
Jun 7
Stop forcing users to start their build over and over, checking to see which product line magically gives them the options they want. Increase the flexibility and visibility of build options between model lines.
This is a general customer service comment about your website. My girlfriend is buying a laptop. After fiddling with your site for an hour, she asked for my help choosing a model. She said the website was extremely confusing. I assumed it was because Dell offers custom laptops, and she wasn’t sure which options she needed. But when we logged on together, it became clear that the website is complicated because you’ve attempted to dumb it down too much. You ask users to classify themselves according to home, small business, large business, or government. But most users don’t classify themselves this way. And it’s apparent that you are hiding models from users, based on that initial choice. Your model numbers are confusing, and depending on options, a “lower” model can easily cost twice as much as the next model “up” in your line.
Go to www.mcmaster.com and search for “tubing”. Notice how users can select specifications that they know, which narrows their search, but can leave out options they aren’t sure about? For laptops, I might want to narrow my search by case style, base price, type of processor, or any number of things. Perhaps it would be more helpful for your initial question to be, “Would you like to build a custom laptop by choosing technical features like memory, hard drive space, and processor speed – or would you like to describe how the laptop will be used, and we’ll try to recommend some features for you?” Then, instead of asking me if my PC is for home, small business, large business, or government / research use, why not ask me what I’m going to do with the bloody thing? Will I use it to run Microsoft Office applications like Word and Outlook? Will I be connecting to a wireless network at my home? At my office? Will I be playing 3D games? Will I be editing home photos? Editing photos for professional use? Watching movies? How long do I need the battery to last? Will I be working with large spreadsheets in Excel? Editing video? These questions tell you much more about what kind of features I need than your arbitrary and confusing questions about what “type” of user I am.
After a set of features is determined, show them to me in spreadsheet format, on one page. List each feature, like the amount of memory included, in the left column. Give a brief description like, “Memory is temporary storage used by your computer to run programs. For most people, 2 GB of 533MHz DDR2 memory is adequate. If you will be playing 3D games, editing photos professionally, or using large spreadsheets, 4GB is better, and you may want to consider faster (higher MHz) memory.” The, to the right, show me the current memory type, and the amount of memory, I’ve chosen. Next to the type, place an up arrow and a down arrow. The up arrow says, “Upgrade to 667MHz DDR memory” and lists an additional price. The down arrow says, “Downgrade to DDR memory,” and lists a credit amount. Similarly, up and down arrows next to the amount of memory give me options for increasing or decreasing the amount of RAM, and given an increase or decrease in price. For optional features, like software, give me a checkbox to indicate if I want it at all.
Anyway, this is my just-thought-of-it interface, and I’m sure you can improve the general idea. But you must do something better than the current system, which leaves buyers wondering if there is a model hidden on some other model line that would allow them to choose only the features they want, at a cheaper price. Your current website is a big, confusing guessing game, and I find myself going back and forth between pages, starting over several times, to get a configuration I like. Look at the web visit histories of your users and I’m sure you’ll find their behavior indicates a similar confusion.
280
Make complete hardware docs freely available
Simplify IT submitted by amesbury
07/04/07
One of the historical problems with Dell hardware is that hardware documentation isn't freely available. While the Linux crowd has made significant inroads into addressing this problem by incorporating binary, vendor-supplied drivers into their OS, this approach doesn't work universally for all distributions or, more importantly, for operating systems not recognized by vendors. In particular, I have a strong business need for systems which can run smoothly under FreeBSD, as it fits its role better than Linux (for our purposes; not interested in a "my OS is better than yours" war). The Dell PowerEdge 750 and PE1850 were the last PowerEdge systems I know of which worked flawlessly. In particular, they had Intel NICs and Adaptec RAID hardware, both of which were heavily documented and supported in the Open Source community. The PE860 and PE2950, unfortunately, have Broadcom NICs (in my experience not nearly as well supported and openly documented) and LSI RAID (a.k.a., the PERC 5/i, also not as well supported and openly documented).
Dell: *PLEASE* use your weight to encourage your suppliers to release documentation on their hardware products into the community! This would benefit *ALL* open source operating systems, and make your hardware products that much more attractive to those of us who frequently buy bare-metal systems from you.
410
Do not hire nontechnical people for techsupport
Service and Support submitted by jbrogers
02/17/07
This is the main problem with the India call centers - they have no idea what they are doing. They are obviously reading a scripted diagnosing tool and have no personal knowledge of computing issues.
I have both home and business accounts with Dell. When I call in for support on my Business account, I get a good old-fashioned American geek, who instantly understands that I am fairly technical, and doesn't treat me like an idiot.
The Indian call centers, not having knowledge themselves, do not recognize that I know anything, and treat me like an idiot as they read from the diagnosis tool. Yeah, I know the computer is plugged in. Yeah I know that I have internet connectivity. Sheesh.
8986
Should Apple licence OS X to Dell? | Bigmouth Strikes Again - Freelance journalist Gary Marshall on technology, the Internet, music, Macs and more
Operating Systems submitted by pwalker
01/30/07
There was an interesting op-ed by Doug Mohney in The Inquirer yesterday, which suggested that the launch of Vista provides a good opportunity for Apple - if it licences OS X to Dell.
However, Vista is being beaten like a dead horse by the mass media – most of them already are enthralled to the God of Jobs if you read between the lines, so Microsoft could make nuclear fusion work tomorrow and they’d give it a lukewarm review at best. The consensus view out of the babbling punditry is “Don’t buy Vista today, unless you have to buy a new computer tomorrow.”
On that front, I think the babbling pundits are right. Heh.
So what about Apple?
If Apple was serious, and I mean really serious, about gaining more PC market share, they’d realize they need to license/sell their operating system to another hardware manufacturer or two. Sure, Apple’s tried the license route before with mixed results, but it’s about time to bite the bullet, look into the mirror, and realize they should try something bold.
Apple should license their operating system to Dell.
Mohney isn’t suggesting that Apple should make OS X available to any PC user; the dangers of that (such as hardware incompatibilities or really crap machines ruining Apple’s reputation) have been talked to death for years. Rather, he’s suggesting that Apple could team up with a single PC manufacturing firm to make decent clones, expanding OS X’s market share without diluting the core Apple brand. It wouldn’t be an Apple Mac: it’d be a Dell Mac. Dell’s good at churning out PCs, so if Apple laid down strict criteria about what should and shouldn’t go into a clone you could get decent non-Apple Macs competing in different markets to Apple Macs. Does anyone really think Dell is capable of making something as sexy as a MacBook or as iconic as the iMac?
I’m sure Mohney will be inundated with angry emails, but I do wonder how many of the senders will have reacted similarly to suggestions a few years back that Macs should run Intel chips. I think his idea’s fascinating.
4471
We need BSD support too!!
Linux, Service and Support submitted by mad_nassos
May 3
I am totally satisfied that I can use some Linux distributions, like Ubuntu, Fedora and OpenSUSE in my XPS M1330 laptop, but I am a freeBSD user too. I think all BSD users will appriciate it a lot if there was some support on freeBSD, too, as for instance in my XPS, I can't use my Network Card, neither my Wireless Metwork Card.
70
FreeBSD or *BSD support
Service and Support submitted by andilek
02/20/07
Right now there is lots of companies and projects connected to *BSD.
Most of them have difficulties when growing to clusters and external FC storage systems, due to lack of drivers and support for these.
I believe there is huge opportunity for Dell to get this market.
932
FreeBSD support
Service and Support submitted by kluner.net
02/21/07
Good FreeBSD support from Dell to users and FreeBSD developers.
FreeBSD already runs perfectly on most Dell Servers, but every so often there's a model with some glitches, which probably could be resolved in no time at all when Dell and the FreeBSD community work together.
FreeBSD support for Dell OpenManage would be much appreciated too.
290
 track my votes
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