Posts Tagged ‘dell’

Mainstream Media Blames Ubuntu for Problems in School, Caught in Fanboy Cross-Fire

Whether it was a stunt to boost traffic to their website, or legitimately not knowing the can of worms they were opening, a tv station in Madison, WI ran a story about a girl who ordered a computer from Dell with Ubuntu. The short version goes something like this: A girl orders a computer for college. It was a Dell laptop that cost $1,100. She selected Ubuntu as an option rather than Windows and it wasn’t until after she received the computer that she realized she couldn’t install Microsoft Office or her Verizon Wireless card herself. She did call Dell immediately when she realized it wasn’t Windows and they reassured her that the computer would still perform basic office suite funcitonality and Internet connectivity just fine, so she kept it. Later, after she realized the software/hardware she wanted to install wasn’t going to work, she felt “forced” to drop out of school since she didn’t have the tools necessary to do what she needed for the classes. The story made it far up on Reddit and Digg (front page of the tech. section early this afternoon) and of course drew tons and tons of comments from Ubuntu and Linux lovers everywhere. While the story does blame Dell, it definitely leaves the root of the problem upon the operating system that was preinstalled on the computer. I’m not sure that they realized the holy war they accidentally (or purposely) joined. Allegedly, they had hundreds of phone calls and comments on the story and subsequent blog posts from angry Ubuntu users and contributers. And rightfully so! There is some seriously flawed logic happening and Ubuntu and Dell are getting blamed. I’m going to hop on my soap box here for a minute and discuss what went horribly wrong in this story.

First, the user didn’t get requirements for school. She spent thousands of dollars on tuition as well as $1,100 (which was explicitly listed in the article for some reason, even though it’s nothing compared to the cost of school) on a laptop without finding out exactly what she needed. Different operating systems are better for different jobs and picking the right tool, especially a $1,100 tool, is very important. If someone tells they need me to buy a screwdriver and I pick up a flat head when really I needed a Phillips, is it the store’s fault? No, I bought the wrong tool. When I take it back after I know what I need I don’t really care what they say about whether or not the tool is right for me – I already know it’s not right.

Second, since when can’t you get help? You can go to a public library to use a computer, talk to a professor to try to get an extension, talk to the school, or simply borrow a computer until it gets straightened out. There’s always ways to make exceptions, especially if it’s whether or not she can go to school over something as trivial as a choice in operating system.

Lastly, was it really necessary to drop out of an entire year’s worth of classes? Seriously, she could have gone down to Best Buy and bought Windows Vista for $239. She even could have had Geek Squad install it for her so she wouldn’t have to worry about it. Even if installation costed her $100, that’s drastically better than the time and money lost in dropping out of school. Seriously, why would you not? So, you made a mistake? So what? If the worst mistake you ever made was buying a laptop with the wrong OS and had to spend an extra few hundred dollars to get the right OS you’ll come out much better than everyone else on this planet. It’s much like the person who swerves their car at 60+mph to miss a squirrel they may or may not have actually hit only to wrap the car around a tree and kill everyone on board. Sure, the squirrel is safe, but was it really worth it?

Okay, I’m done ranting. But seriously, let’s stop and place the blame where blame is due. Buy the tool that is right for the job. If you’re going to spend a lot of money on a piece of equipment, take the time to make sure it’s the right one.

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Filed under News, Tech Trends : Comments (2) : Jan 16th, 2009

Apple’s OS/Hardware Bundle Pays Off

A study performed by VocaLabs has shown that overall satisfaction with Apple’s support is rated higher than rivals Dell, Gateway, HP, and Toshiba. The survey is conducted at the end of a conversation between an end user and tech support at each company. Company, call, and agent satisfaction were highest for Apple over other PC manufacturers except for company satisfaction which was a tie with Toshiba. Should this really surprise us? Courtesy shouldn’t really affect this, but the Apple model of hardware and software is much simpler. The hardware and OS were built by Apple which makes it much easier to predict what kind of hardware and software configurations the user is in, thus creating less confusion between support technicians and end users. One of the advantages with going the PC route is that you can use a lot more hardware within your PC which can make for awkward situations with tech support people. Variables like wireless managers and anti-viruses really make it difficult for tech support staff to predict what the end user sees on his or her computer so of course it will lower satisfaction when it’s harder to communicate.

I’ve had the same experience with Apple support vs PC support staff. I’ve only had to call the actual Apple support line once but have worked with local Apple repair shops who interface with Apple for me on other occasions. When I went to get my hard drive replaced in my MacBook about a month ago they even replaced the top cover on my case for me because it was cracking. I didn’t even ask! They just offered to do it. I can counter that with a really bad experience with a PC manufacturer. One time I was working on trying to get a Lenovo desktop to use a second video card alongside the built-in one. I finally got desperate and called the Lenovo support line. After spending 20 minutes waiting on the line they told me that it wasn’t a supported configuration. I knew the video card worked because I had tested it in another system but they said it wasn’t supported and basically hung up the phone. Wow, what service. Okay, I’ll stop my ranting now :)

What’s very interesting about the results is that customer loyalty to both Apple and Dell are the same: 70%. While I’m not sure exactly how these terms are defined, I think there’s an interesting statistic here. The survey suggests that 52% of customers are satisfied with Apple as a company, yet they have a 70% customer loyalty rating. The same goes for Dell. They are showing as a 45% overall company satisfaction yet their loyalty is 70%. I’m not quite sure what this could suggest. It could mean one of two things: that people were trying to make cool designs in the bubbles when filling out the survey (Yes, it’s a phone survey. Yes, I’m kidding) or consumers are not satisfied but keep coming back for more. An interesting human trait, indeed. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that humans are never satisfied but I thought it was worth noting. At any rate, Microsoft’s separation of hardware and software policy seems to be catching up with them. Of course, you are sacrificing some level of freedom when using a platform such as OS X since it can’t be run on anything besides Apple hardware (according to the EULA at least). However, end users seem to lean towards solutions that “just work” rather than caring about the ability to pick exactly what chipset and processor they are using. Of course there will always be those few (I count myself among them) but the consumer market seems to be swinging in the opposite direction. Like everything, it will most likely swing back in a few years but that seems to be the trend for the moment.

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Filed under News, Tech Trends : Comments (0) : Nov 20th, 2008

The Evolution of the Notebook

HP announced its new EliteBook 6930p notebook a few days ago, bragging up to 24 hours of battery life. To attain this long battery life it needs to have an extra high-capacity battery. If it’s anything like the Gateway or Dell machines with extra-capcity batteries that extend out of the normal case of the machine, then I won’t have anything to do with it, but that’s not what’s interesting here. It appears we are on the brink of the notebook becoming a commodity like cell phones are today. We have been seeing the rise of the use of ‘netbooks’, a smaller, cheaper form of laptops. With the new ‘all-day’ laptops, the small form-factor of the netbook, and wireless signal using WiMaxx or 3G, the computer is well on its way to becoming the new cell phone. In fact, Cnet has mentioned possible deals in the works between Dell and a wireless provider to offer a wireless plan that includes one of the Dell Inspiron Mini9′s. It’ll be interesting for sure what happens in the laptop market, but battery life was one of the missing links in our search for a true mobile computing experience.

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Filed under News, Tech Trends : Comments (0) : Sep 13th, 2008

Dell Releases Netbook, With a Twist

Dell today released a new product into their lines, a netbook known as the Inspiron Mini 9. As the name suggests, the laptop has a 9 inch (well, 8.9) screen and a similar form factor to all other notebooks on the market. Just like the other netbooks, the laptop can be purchased either with Windows XP Home Edition or Ubuntu Linux. It also comes with options such as upgrading the memory, hard drive capacity, adding a bluetooth card and a webcam, nothing special. Dell typically has been a major player in the lower-end consumer PC market so it’s somewhat surprising that this is their first. The laptop seems like it’s just like the rest of the netbooks currently on the market, but there’s a twist with this new PC which is probably the most interesting part of the product. According to a CNET podcast, Dell has also been talking with a wireless partner to offer the netbook as part of a cell phone-type plan so the device comes as part of a wireless contract. The report said the laptop would most likely connect to a 3G wireless network to get to the web. This will definitely be a boost to the netbook market and could leave a few competitors in the dust.

This could be the kick in the pants that cloud computing and SaaS vendors needed. Now we have devices that we can interface with as though they are full-scale desktops and laptops, but can be paid for month-to-month and don’t need to store anything locally since they are always connected to the web. It also gives desktop virtualization new life. If we can just connect to a virtual desktop from a “dummy terminal” like these netbooks, we don’t have to worry about databases walking off when laptops are stolen (which is ridiculous, but that’s another topic for another day). It also allows the PC market to be even more commoditized. Just like a cell phone, if I drop mine or lose it, I can walk down to a store, pick up a new laptop, install a thin client, and away I go.

The laptop also comes with 2GB of online storage from box.net. You can sign up for 1GB of storage for free, so they’re not exactly giving away the farm, but it lets users get a little more comfortable with the idea of cloud computing and storage without spending any money and it’s backed by a name like Dell. With tools like Google Docs and Zoho, we really don’t need word processing and spreadsheet applications on our desktops anymore. With SugarCRM and Salesforce.com we don’t need customer information stored on our desktops and workgroup servers anymore. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

If this news of wireless service with a Dell netbook included becomes a reality (every one who knows me personally hold on to your chair), I just might have to get myself a Dell. I’m a huge Apple fan and I love the interface, but to have a small laptop without having to be tied to an access point would be great. What’s even better would be if I weren’t necessarily tied to a single device. A good majority of the apps I use are web-based, but a few still run on the desktop. All who know me, you can rest easy.. I’ll get the Ubuntu version. I haven’t completely lost it.

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Filed under News, Tech Trends : Comments (1) : Sep 4th, 2008