lleonard

Stop recommending Vista

submitted by steveoc 11/20/07

One of my workstations died last week, so I quickly got to work on a replacement box. 5 year old machine, worked fine 24x7 for 5 years straight, and one of the capacitors was now ready to pop on the motherboard. RIP workstation.

I stopped by dell.com to check out the offerings, as I wanted something reliable, good value, and a quick and painless sale. Fortunately, Dell have many good products that fit these simple requirements.

However, the blatant and cheesy Microsoft 'recommendations' all over the site made me feel insulted. Im there to buy DELL hardware - NOT Microsoft software. I dont care about Microsoft, and I dont see why I should have to put up with seeing THEIR adverts all over YOUR site.

In the end I gave up, grabbed the car keys, and headed into town where I just bought the bits and prices that I needed to get the old workstation running again (new mobo, CPU, RAM). The whole exersize took a few hours, most of which was trying to find a park on a busy friday arvo, but basically the whole experience was pleasantly free of Microsoft adverts, so I didnt mind.

There was no sign on the parking meter saying 'Adelaide City Council recommends Vista', so I was happy to put money in the parking meter.

At the computer shop, I wasnt the only one with the same idea - the computer shop was absolutely chock a block full of people, all knowing exactly what they needed, and queuing up with armfulls of componennts and the cash to pay for them.

The computer shop had rows and rows of motherboards that were just advertised as motherboards - NOTHING there about Vista.

I grabbed a cheap dual core processor off the table, an AMD X2 4000+ for next to nothing. The packaging described it as a 64bit dual core processor, which is exactly what it was. Not a Vista processor - just a processor, which is all I was after. On the table next to the hard drives I noticed a big stack of free PCLinuxOS CD's with a simple note 'Operating System - Try Me - Im Free'. Nice work !

The RAM sticks I bought were just RAM sticks, not Vista sticks. Thats all I wanted, and so thats all I got.

I then drove back to work at the airport, where the signs all refer to airlines .. not Microsoft Vista. There is nothing at the airport about Vista, thank goodness. Put the workstation back together, booted up fine (into gentoo linux) .. and there was no mention of Vista anywhere in the BIOS boot messages, grub, or the linux kernel.

What is there not to understand ? A computer is a computer is a computer. It is not a Vista machine, its just a computer. We the customers want computers, so why cant you just sell us computers ? Whats with all this Vista nonsense that is not in any way relevant to what we want to buy ? Why should we have to drive into town and do it ourselves just to be free of Microsoft advertising ?

We, YOUR CUSTOMERS, are not stupid incompetent fools who need to be hand held and offered 'recommendations' for things that we honestly do not need. We are quite capable of making our own decisions about what software we need to do our jobs., and quite frankly, our choices with regards to software are not your problem.

Can you please stick to your core business and just offer us great hardware deals, and let us worry about how we use your hardware, without the inferred insult of a Microsoft 'recommendation'.

That would be awesome - Thank You. 14 Comments »

An appealing idea for a commercial with a cute little boy

Advertising and Marketing submitted by sugarbear 11/23/07

Petzy Mathuram posted a cute commercial from Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_4vAKMrrWE . If Dell had done something like this and had the little boy saving his money to buy a pc, I think it would have gone over well. This is an inexpensive commercial to make and is appealing. What do you think? 17 Comments »

Open a Shop in Dubai Airport, among other airports

Service and Support submitted by badblood 11/23/07

Dubai International handled a total of 16,227,528 passengers in the first half of 2007. Dubai airport is really a stopover and people don't often leave the airport. They go there because they are in transit and to buy stuff. So set up a little Dell shop in the airport and make it more interesting.

You might as well open a shop in other transit airports. Why not Singapore and Bangkok airports as well.

Forget about Heathrow as it's too confusing. 33 Comments »

Oil Cooled PCs

Desktops and Laptops submitted by aikiwolfie 11/24/07

While Dell has been busy patting it's self on the back for the XPS 720 H2C the rest of the world has begun to move on. Oil filled computers are what people are talking about now. These PCs are cooled with vegetable oil which is non-conductive unlike water so it doesn't short out the PC. The oil also fills the entire case meaning the whole PC is cooled.

40 Comments »

This text on your web site regarding "open source" is misleading, please consider changing it.

submitted by cosh 11/25/07

From www.dell.com/open:



This is the wrong impression to give, as it suggests that all open source software everywhere is somehow incompatible with Windows, whereas in reality many open source programs are ported to and available on Windows, such as Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice, and some popular open source programs are dedicated entirely to it, for example Paint.NET (info).

A better and more accurate thing to say would be:

"The main thing to note is that when you choose an open source operating system like Ubuntu Linux®, you don't get a Windows® operating system."

or how about:

"The main thing to note is that when you purchase a Dell computer preinstalled with Ubuntu or FreeDOS, you don't get a Windows operating system" etc. etc.

Concise, clear, and accurate. If I remember correctly there's a similar message on the other language versions of the Dell web site, so it should be changed there too.

If you've a better suggestion post it in the comments. 22 Comments »

ENHANCE your "Open Source" site warning - Offer INFORMATION

Dell Web Site, Sales Strategies submitted by phubert 11/26/07

This is your current opening...

The main thing to note is that when you choose open source you don't get a Windows® operating system.

You go on to offer:

Already an Open Source fan?

ADD:

Want to know MORE about Open Source?

...and offer a link to information about Linux/OSS

PLEASE NOTE that "Open Source" is a misleading term...
And ALSO please inform that 'Open Source' APPLICATIONS are widely available for Microsoft Windows as well!

This is from cosh's submission:

http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/75178 1 Comment »

Create a digital entertainment portal

Dell Web Site, New Product Ideas submitted by trademork 11/26/07

Dell should create an online consumer portal for digital entertainment content acquisition and distribution:
http://www.trademork.com/zingspot/ Comment »

Vista won another CNet award. Put it on your "help me choose OS" page.

Operating Systems submitted by jmxz 11/26/07

Ever the Microsoft cheerleader, even Mike Dell can't stop himself from saying things about Vista. Perhaps I can help them by providing a link to yet another Vista award they can talk about.

I see here that Vista won yet another award. Top ten terrible tech products on CNet UK. Perhaps add that new CNet award to your "help me choose: operating system" pages to help people make a more informative choice. 6 Comments »

Move your corporate HQ to China

Dell, Service and Support submitted by badblood 11/27/07

Move Dell HQ to China before you can no longer afford it.... 19 Comments »