Dell IdeaStorm

Continue to offer paid support after the warranty expires.

motie35 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:51:39 PDT

This is the true reason I won't buy another Dell, or ever recommend one. If you're a corporate buyer that's going to buy computers with a 3 year extended support contract, and when that's up throw the computers away and buy new ones, then fine. Dell is for you. But I'm just an individual who wants to buy a computer with the standard warranty, and I want to keep on using it. If it breaks, I'm willing to pay to have it repaired. But try getting Dell to repair their own equipment after the warranty is up. They repeatedly refused to repair my brother's laptop, and recommended I try a third party repair facility. His laptop was barely over a year old. Any company who refuses to service their equipment out of warranty at any price, I'm not too excited to buy from. Dell, just support your equipment at a fair price for repairs out of warranty, and I'm your customer again.

Stripped down, fast Linux Box

pawprintz — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:21:37 PDT

How about a fast, Internet ready Linux desktop. Small form factor, pretty monitor, mouse & keyboard, the O.S., OpenOffice & Firefox. Cheap'n'fast

Dell sees the value of this idea, and is keeping the sugestions for a Linux small form factor on the radar. john_h will let the community know of any new information as it comes.

Pre-Installed Linux | Ubuntu | Fedora | OpenSUSE | Multi-Boot

dhart — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:17:40 PDT

Offer the 3 top free Linux versions for free pre-installation on all Dell PCs.

Quality free and open source software drastically lowers the cost of new PCs, and helps prevent software piracy. For example OpenOffice.org, the Microsoft Office alternative, can shave hundreds of dollars off the price of a new PC. Cast your vote for OpenOffice and other free software.

Offer easy multi-boot options with Windows Vista, Windows XP, or NO Windows (yes, Linux can entirely replace Windows!)

Offer trade-ins and Linux CDs for older model Dell PCs. Cast your vote for the mini Linux Dell PC and the Universal Education Dell PC, both utilizing free software.

Would you try Linux if it were this easy?

CHOICE is what consumers want on their new PCs, not annoying surprise circus-ware (the typical smattering of confusing 3rd party popup-infested software found on most new Dell PCs). Quality free and open source software is well behaved, and may be legally pre-installed on PCs, and legally shared with friends and family, sharing is encouraged! Cast your vote for consumer CHOICE and public transparency at Dell.

Please take a look at www.dell.com/open for linux options on the Inspiron.

Pre-Installed OpenOffice | alternative to MS Works & MS Office

dhart — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:30:26 PDT

Provide OpenOffice.org for free pre-installation alongside Microsoft Works and Microsoft Office. OpenOffice.org is more capable than Microsoft Works, and a serious competitor to Microsoft Office, at a fraction of the cost (it's free!)

OpenOffice.org can open, create, edit and save Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

Provide as OPTIONS for pre-installation many other high-quality free software programs such as:
- Firefox: web browser with popup and privacy controls; say goodbye to Internet Explorer infections!
- Thunderbird: email program with free anti-spam and privacy controls
- Pidgin: instant messaging all-in-one program for popup-free MSN, Yahoo, AOL and others
&nsbp;[ed: GAIM was renamed Pidgin in April 2007 to settle the issue with AOL's trademark on AIM]
- PDFCreator: creates Adobe PDF files from any program
- Scribus, Inkscape & GIMP: desktop publishing, freehand drawing & powerful image editing
- Audacity & VLC: multi-track audio editing & universal all-in-one media/video/movie/DVD player
- Stellarium & Celestia: planetarium viewer & outer-space mapping, like Google Earth, but for our Solar System

Pre-installed quality free and open source software drastically lowers the cost of new PCs, and helps prevent software piracy. Cast your vote for Linux and other free software. Cast your vote for the Universal Education PC [ed: article removed/merged by dell_admin] utilizing free software.

CHOICE is what consumers want on their new PCs, not annoying surprise circus-ware (the typical smattering of confusing 3rd party popup-infested software found on most new Dell PCs). Quality free and open source software is well behaved, and may be legally pre-installed on PCs, and legally shared with friends and family, sharing is encouraged! Cast your vote for consumer CHOICE and public transparency at Dell.