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Ford Giving Free PCs to All Employees
trims writes "Ford Motor Company is giving each of its 350,000 employees a computer & printer (and good ones, too), plus Internet service (by UUNet). Are we getting to the point where corporations subsidize the Internet in the name of productivity? It's a NY Times article (free registration required)" The Internet access is supposed to cost $5 per month - and possibly less in low-wage countries. Nice move, Ford!
According to the Detroit NBC affiliate's 11:00 News, it looks like they are just giving the personal computers to people so that they will learn technology and become more productive. It seemed as though the thinking is that if people are already used to some technology, teaching them new ones (like computer controlled welding and things like that) will be easy. There were no mentions of adds, or any thing else. The computers are indeed brand name PCs. My thinking: 350,000 PCs = lots of IP address to get (Although I don't think it is THAT big a deal for UUNET).
--Josh
There are exactly 42,935,718 letter sized sheets in a square mile.
You can have your computer any color,... as long it is black.
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Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
For one I'm leery of the privacy concerns now that the "company" owns the machine that is supposed to be for "home use". I try to keep a clear distinction on what is work related and business related.
I have a business laptop and for all intents and purposes, it does everything I need it to do for work related purposes. I take it home and do work at home. I have a dial-up account with the company that gets me to the corporate intranet and internet access through the company proxy. Having a "home" PC from the company really would *not* add any "functionaly".
I also have a "home" PC, which I own. I have a dial-up account and email address with a personal ISP. I think the distiction is important because of privacy concerns. Knowing alittle about computer forensics and security, I would want to keep my personal files, browsing habbits, etc on a machines that can't be revoked by the company for analysis at anytime.
There seems to be a growing trend towards providing services for employees for their "conveniece". I read an article about how companies are using concierge services to help out employees with getting flowers, planning parties etc. The premise was that for every $1.00 spent by the company on the concierge service they company would recieve $1.75 worth of work out of its employees. With company t-shirts, cups, parties, home PC, etc I think we take one step towards being owned by a cult. In the article it tells of a woman who was emotionally distraught that the company was providing all these services just to get more productivity out of her not because they thought she was a great person.
We get a free PC, fairly high spec. Basically you get a budget and build your own system from a major supplier (ok.. Dell ;). I've yet to hear of anyone getting a Linux system, but I never even opened the NT bundle that came with mine. And you can chip in for extra bits (like a 19' FST monitor).
The problem is that it's value reduces pro-rata for three years after you get it, leave before then, you have to pay off the outstanding balance. Which given the depreciation and rapid obselescance (sp?) on PC's sucks. If you leave early, say after a year, you still owe 3500 Nlg (Dutch Guilders) on a PC which is worth maybe 2000 (tops) by that time.
But if you stay it's not a bad deal (which is no doubt part of the plan). I think it is aimed most at the staff who would not otherwise buy a decent PC (we're not all techies here), and for them I think it is a good idea, gives them experience, etc.. Even if it is experience in the wrong OS.
EZ
-'Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to log in..'
"Oops, I always forget the purpose of competition is to divide people into winners and losers." - Hobbes
The PC's are apparently owned by PeoplePC, and not by either HP or their workers. However, HP pays part of the standard lease rate for any of their employees who participate. Is this subsidy considered taxable income for the worker?
Nevertheless, I think it's a good idea. Five years ago, I was able to get a high-end new computer because my employer provided interest free loans for computer purchases. Of course, when I left for a higher paying job, I had to pay the entire remaining balance in one lump sum; but it's better than losing the whole computer with all my personal files.
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Index of Alternative Operating Systems
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Index of Alternative Operating Systems
www.indexos.com
If I worked for Ford I would rather they gave me a PC than a car. If I worked for BMW ...
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
It seems that you haven't tried to do more that use a web browser on a Windows machine. Try writing a WDM that is compatible with everything in the world while still not locking up the machine and wiping your HD. Another thing...Since all of the windows people are such F...... idiots why do I make so much money supporting windows technology. (remember i'm an idiot too) Hmmm... And just one more thing. Not everyone in the world wants to live , eat , breath code. Unfortunatly I do. Windows is good for those people who don't care about the 12 node Beowulf in my personal lab or what it can do. If someone gave me a 500 mhz machine I'd be happy. Just give me one and watch me smile as I add my 13 node. (gee I might even try to see if I could get Windows to work as the OS on the 13th (I have no idea how I'd do it but why not))
While I would like to believe that this is a pure genuinely "nice" move on the part of Ford, my instinct and general distrust of corporate America tells me otherwise, but I have no solid basis for any argument.
I still don't know all the facts, but I understand from a few poorly written mass media articles that this has something to do with the discussions between Ford and the UAW. The part that interests me most is whether this whole deal was part of the labor contract, or is merely a generous gesture from Ford.
As far as the whole privacy/Ford-is-big-brother theory, I doubt that is of any substance. While it is entirely possible that they could do that, just the thought of the nightmarish PR scandal that would arise if such a scheme was uncovered should shy away even the most Orwellian of corporate policy makers.
Just my four ha'pennies
Jesus may love you, but I think you're garbage wrapped in skin.
A choice of masters is not freedom
I'm a potential beneficiary of this, and this is the first I've heard of it! :-)
/., and whose income is well below what most of us are on. They're not too bothered about the spec - just being able to write a letter in Word is a giant step forward for them.
Anyway, the point is that this isn't for the benefit of folks like us. Anyone slagging off Ford for the low-spec base machine (I'm still using a P1 233 with a 14" monitor for software and PCB design at home BTW, and I've never needed more) is missing the point. This is for ppl who haven't got a PC, have never heard of
The big deal for me is the cheap net access. In the UK, British Telecom owns the last mile of copper, their pricing is criminal, and our telecoms watchdog is talking about being _less_ restrictive?!?! If Ford's going to do cheap net access for its employees, that's going to remove the single biggest obstacle to getting on line for folks in the UK, the phone bill.
Don't know what kind of crappy setup you had. But Windows is pretty much the same, set it up and it goes on forever.
The problem is most people don't have longstanding static configurations. Eventually they'll want to change something/add something and that's where Linux is _STILL_ harder.
I think it's cool Ford is doing it again. Kudos to them.
Later...
KangarooBox - We make IT simple!
I pay close to 133$ US per month and that is for lousy 31,200bps access, and have to suffer thru busy lines, and disconnections.
This is in Saudi Arabia, and half that amount is a monthly subscription fee (233 SR), and the rest is per minute charges from the telephone company (0.075 SR per minute).
You can read more about it in Cost of Access in the Middle East vs. other places on my Saudi ISPs Comparison web site, and also Middle East Internet Statistics site.
You guys in North America have it really easy, with free access providers popping up, and free local calls as well.
Sigh! If this sounds like a complaint, it probably is!
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And, if you run into another site that requires that you register, enter that name and password. If it requires an email address, use the spam receiving service at spam@tinaa.com.
...phil
...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
Never knock on Death's door:
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
Some people on slashdot really need to grow up a little.
Someone giving away something practically free? bash it because its a *shitty* HP or because it has windows on it.
Then there's the moron AC who said
work for ford by day
work for MS by night
Get a clue. I have to use windows at work, does that mean i'm working for MS? if so I haven't received my paycheck yet.
This kind of bashing happens on pretty much every story on slashdot. Are these people just jealous or just so selfish that even if something doesn't have anything to do with them and it isn't the way the way they'd like it if it did have to do with them, that they get pissed?
grow up
For the most part, no one does anything which is not good for themselves. However some people, and some companies even, have a wider and broader view of what is good for themselves other then what will drive up their stock price next quarter, and thankfully Ford seems to have this here.
:)
My guess behind their motives is this. First, it definitely increases company loyalty. In the modern age company loyalty is all but out the window.
Second, it will help make the entire work force technologically more savy. This has two important effects. One is that it makes the current workforce easier to retrain when they upgrade their equipment used internally. The Second is it makes it a more attractive place to work for technology people. By being the first to do such a program, they greatly increase their competitive edge vs. others companies.
Third it gets them a lot of great press. People look at Ford differently 'cause they are doing something which is not blantantly in their self interets.
This is all a very cynical look at things, but I have started reading Heinlein books again so you must forgive me.
Ford should be congradulated a lot for taking a holistic view of their best interests, and realizing that further educating the american public in any way, keeping them competitive in any way, so that america continues to lead the world in technology, hence continues to have lots of disposable income, hence can buy high end Ford Explorers and such is in their best interests.
(p.s. all statements are IMVHO)
There is no silver bullet. Plus, werewolves make better neighbors than zombies or vampires anyway.
If you have a secret for avoiding DLL Hell, I'd sure like to know it. ;). Windows 2000 also has 'personal dlls' for apps that need to ensure the DLL version doesn't change.
/dependents switch to list dependencies from the command line.
Yes, I run Windows 2000 with system file protection on
In Windows, well, if you know a way to list all the files that come with MSOffice and all the DLLs it requires, I'd sure like to know.
Yeah, it's called dependency walker, it comes with Visual Studio (with source I believe). I think it comes with the platform SDK too. It lists all DLLs, etc that an app depends on. You can also use "DUMPBIN.EXE" with the
If you can get Windows to tell me the files it's about to uninstall, to check program dependencies before uninstalling, or even to present a uniform uninstallation interface instead of the hodgepodge of hundreds of different uninstall.exe's made by dozens of different companies, well, I'd sure like to know.
It's up to an application to do it's installing uninstalling. However, Windows has (since win95) offered installation APIs which are generally followed "ok" by installtion programs such as installshield. Windows 2000 does offer a cooler extended install API set, allowing apps to 'self heal' when files go missing or get deleted. In Redhat, as long as you use RPMs, you'll be fine, but even then it's still a chore to make sure you have the right dependencies downloaded and installed.
Windows, well, if you know a way to get setup.exe to reveal what files it's going to install where, and what DLLs the installed program needs, I'd sure like to know Fault of InstallShield and windows application makers. Maybe a fault of Microsoft for not enforcing it more (i guess even if they did they'd be sued and again for trying to be a bully).
Now you may rightly argue that grandma doesn't need to know anything about DLLs to install her software, but that's no justification for leaving out the capability entirely. System administrators use Windows too, and all the sysadmins I know would be very happy if it could be possible to have Windows make their lives easier in ways that Linux already is.
If you're an experienced Windows programmer, you should know how to do most of the above. Most microsoft setups (like Windows) consist of cab files which you can list contents of etc.
DETROIT, Feb. 3 -- The Ford Motor Company said today that each of its 350,000 employees worldwide, from factory workers in India to car designers in Michigan, would be offered a high-speed desktop computer, a color printer and unlimited Internet access for just $5 a month.
Employees' families will be encouraged to use the equipment, made by the Hewlett-Packard Company, and will be given e-mail accounts. The Ford offer, which executives said was intended to promote computer literacy, includes color monitors, speakers, technical support and ample capacity for workers and their families to create their own Web sites.
Mark Margevicius, a senior research analyst at the Gartner Group, a computer consulting firm, said that Ford was the first big company to try to make home computers available to all its employees. "I have not even heard of anything like this happening," he said.
Ford executives portrayed today's initiative as an example of corporate munificence and as a way to improve company communications with workers, but auto industry experts said that it could carry several benefits for the company. Ford has had the best labor relations in the domestic auto industry -- its last strike was in 1986 -- but morale has been damaged by its plans to spin off its auto parts division, Visteon Automotive Systems, later this year. Visteon workers will be included in today's program even after the two companies separate, Ford officials said.
Ford and other automakers have invested heavily in automation and need workers who are comfortable operating computers that control the equipment. Factory jobs such as robot repair now require as much as a year of training, some of which could be done online at home.
Envious of the high stock market valuations of computer and Internet companies, Ford officials have begun a concerted effort in the last year to portray their company not as a stodgy manufacturer but as a maker of consumer products actively involved in electronic commerce. Recent initiatives include using the Internet to procure auto parts, promote new car models and keep track of automotive maintenance records.
Ford executives have long admired the way the Saturn division of General Motors uses its corporate image to sell cars and have tried for several years to project a more progressive image of their own. As part of this campaign, Ford already advertises that its automobiles tend to score the best on government crash tests, and that its sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks pollute far less than regulations allow.
Ford also has a history as a ground-breaking employer. Henry Ford, the company's founder and great-grandfather of its current chairman, William C. Ford Jr., infuriated other industrialists in 1913 when he doubled the wage for assembly-line workers to $5 each eight-hour day. But the move reduced training costs at a time when workers were so scarce in Detroit and turnover so high that only one in 10 Ford employees stayed for more than a few months.
Ford officials said they did not know how many workers would want the computers, but predicted that almost all would take them. Delivery of the Hewlett-Packard computers and ink-jet printers will start in the United States in April, and the price might be set lower than $5 a month for workers in lower-wage countries, said James Yost, Ford's chief information officer.
Ford will offer Internet home pages in 14 languages for employees and does not plan to pay for the program through online advertising, though there will be home page links to Ford Web sites. UUNet, a division of MCI WorldCom, will be the Internet service provider.
Nearly 190,000 of Ford's 350,000 employees live outside the United States, as the company builds cars in countries like Poland and India to sell to their growing middle classes.
Mr. Yost and Ford's vendors declined to estimate the cost of the program. Nick Grouf, the chairman and chief executive of PeoplePC, the company that will manage the program, said that for other clients, PeoplePC has distributed less-powerful personal computers with unlimited Internet access but without printers for $24.95 a month. Given the discount that Ford is offering, this suggests the company could spend close to $100 million a year if most of its employees participate.
Ford is earning record profits and has $23.6 billion in cash reserves.
The basic PC in the Ford program, the HP Pavilion, is powerful, with a 500-megahertz Intel Celeron chip. It has a 4.3-gigabyte hard disk, a CD-ROM drive, a 56K modem, speakers, a 15-inch color monitor and Microsoft software including word processing and spreadsheets.
Employees will be eligible for the computers, printers and Internet access even if they already have them at home. They can lease more-powerful models -- with Pentium III chips, laser printers and even DVD players for movies -- at deep discounts if they are not satisfied with the base model. Prices for upgrades have not been determined.
Hewlett-Packard expects at least 300,000 orders, which would equal 4 percent of its worldwide PC shipments last year.
PeoplePC will ship the computers and provide round-the-clock technical support by telephone, including toll-free lines in many countries. Ford will not monitor employees' Internet use or e-mail in any way, Mr. Yost said.
The program was discussed during Ford's negotiations in the fall with the United Automobile Workers union, and was backed by Jacques Nasser, Ford's chief executive. Ford is committed to the program for at least three years, after which it will review it, Mr. Yost said.
G.M. and DaimlerChrysler concluded their talks with the U.A.W. before the idea came up. Their spokesmen said today they would study Ford's initiative. Toyota, Nissan and Honda said they had no plans to follow Ford's example.
Ford factories in the United States already provide free computer training labs for all workers to surf the Internet. Mark Pudelek, a 34-year-old assembler of engine alternators in Rawsonville, Mich., said that he had gone online at the factory but would now get his first home PC for his wife and 5-year-old daughter.
"I think it's going to be a great learning tool for my daughter, for the ABC's, counting and all," he said.
It's written by Steven Miller at Microosoft. And it does a heck of a lot more than lsit dependencies, it also tells you what functions of the dependent DLLs are used, DLL versions, base addresses etc etc.
It can list dependencies for any valid Win32 module (DLL, EXE, OCX etc).
Quite a useful app, and essential for Windows developers.
The executable is called "depends.exe" which comes with the NT Resource kit (amongst some other really cool utilities - many are equivalents of unix commands).
They want to run 350,000 D.NET clients and beat Slashdot. :)
Nipok Nek
Why choose white shoes?
This sounds wonderful! /., in order just to feel comfortable working in the world today.
People do need to learn how to use computers, if not at the level of most of the users of
Ford seems to understand how important it is for its employees to have computers and have access to the internet. Some will argue about the people that this will somehow make all of these employees drones, and that they will have no choice with the computers, and that M$ and Ford will use them to controll the employees. This is a choice the employess will have to make. It is a choice. If you don't like the deal, don't get the computer.
I laugh in response to those individuals who suggest that the computers should have Linux preinstalled, and that to not do so is evil. Find me a distribution that is easy enough to use that someone who does not own a computer can figure it out, and I will gladly (and happily) endorse its use. Lets be realistic.
ObLinuxRant: just think of the money Ford could have saved if they gave their employees boxes with Linux on them!
I wonder what percentage of them will end up running Linux, FreeBSD or Hurd anyway.
The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.
I think you folks think that Ford will preinstall some commercial Linux distribution on the computers to be sold to their employees.
Only one problem: Linux in its current state is still too hard to use for neophyte computer users. Besides, there's a LOT more software available for Windows 98 users, so I'm not surprised that the machines made available by Ford through PeoplePC are running Windows 98 Second Edition.
My guess is that the machines have Windows 98 Second Edition and Microsoft Works 2000 installed on the hard drive.
Once Linux supports "hot docked" PnP devices and has driver installs as easy as Windows 98/2000, THEN we can seriously consider it as an alternative to Windows 98/2000. Hopefully, the Linux 2.4.x kernel, improved OpenGL support and other improvements due this summer will do just that.
Raymond in Mountain View, CA
I wouldn't be too concerned about invasion of privacy in this case. I must agree with other statements I've seen on this topic that I think this is just a way of Ford helping itself by helping it's employee's get used to new technology. The end result my be self preservation, but the way I see it, this benifits all involved.
I've seen some of the robotics systems inside of Ford. Most of them are the latest Allen-Bradly PLC setups and basicly can be controled through a point/click mannor. Far cry from just a few years ago where you had to do all the ladder programming by hand then transfer it to the PLC via dat tape.
I've seen other companies provide PC's for their people and I think it's great. Though I think this is the first time it's ever been done on this grand of a scale. Basicly I think what will either make this great, or a disaster is the terms that Ford will put in place to the employee's that take them up on this offer.
So, as far as I can see, Ford is doing a great thing by helping to spread techonology to those that may afraid or unable to afford it. So long as the people of Ford are happy with this, who is to say anything against it.
Trying to be different, just like everyone else.
If I were a Ford employee, I would not use the company-provided access for any private matters; especially email, unless encrypted.
so now I can count on even more spam on the net, but now with an emphasis toward crappy cars. sigh.
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Damn, that last order for PCs fell thru. we have all these PCs in stock, ready to ship, and the customer refuses to buy them anymore. I think I heard him say something about not wanting that crappy M$ software on them or something... so what can we do with all these?
executive at ford:
hey, I hear you guys have a shitload of PCs that you can't unload. tellya what, I'll buy them at half cost, the whole lot of them. whaddya say?
accountant at ford:
hey, we could turn a positive spin on this. we can get a tax break by giving these as gifts, we only paid half cost for them, and we get free PR as a result! sure, lets go for it.
security and HR at ford:
and also, since we control the way they access the net, we can see if the employees are browsing any 'controversial' sites. of course we have piss tests and background checks before we hire anyone, but this gives us yet another way to screen out 'bad apples'. so even if the employee sneaks by and fakes the piss test (etc), his browsing habbits will surely show his true nature. if he's a commie, druggie or even secretly prefers foreign cars, we'll soon know about that. think of the possibilities - we'll know more about each of our employees than ever before.
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
A: they both break down regularly.
;-)
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
No, really. Ford's insight was essentially the power of network effect: selling cheaply to millions beats selling expensively to thousands any day, and it guarantees a future market. Also, making a world where buying and using your products is the easiest thing in the world is great for the bottom line.
Besides proprietary software, other industries that could really use a Henry Ford:
Telcos -- you know, if we opened up all this unused capacity and stopped getting in people's way, everyone would buy it!
Record and Movie Studios -- you know, if we made digital distribution easy and stopped getting in people's way, our products would spread like wildfire of their own accord!
Airlines -- you know, if we made our pricing comprehensible, shared the market, and stopped treating passengers as cattle, we could run this place!
Why haven't more industries learned this lesson?
"You can't get something for nothing." - my grandfather, on the stock market and Reaganomics.
Folks, you have to realize that not everyone is a techie. Some of these people might not even own a computer. Like eric has written above, these folks have different capabilities. Most of us would dream of being able to strip our cars and rebuild them. Just because the average computer user looks for convenience (which Free OS's lack), user friendliness, and simplicity does not make them Lusers. Even if Microsoft does have its software shipped with these HP computers, that does not mean that some people wont opt for another OS or software. Here is an opportunity for those who want to branch Linux out into the mainstream market. make Linux easy to use, set up and maintain and the world will beat a path to your door or even 350,000 users and Ford might say thank you.
Romanes eunt domus? People called Romanes, they go the 'ouse? It says Romans go home. No it doesn't. What's Latin fo
Ford CEO Jac Nasser currently communicates with Ford's white-collar employees via a weekly e-mail newsletter. Putting computers in the homes of all Ford employees would allow him to access the automaker's entire work force via the Internet, even those employees who do not have desks because they work on assembly lines.
Looked at from a historical perspective, this deal could represent a major social revolution. It appears that Ford will be the first major company to offer all of its employees home computers at no cost. It was also the company that pioneered the five dollar day. This dramatically boosted workers take home pay in the early 1900s and allowed assembly line workers to afford the Model Ts that they produced.
This does not even consider the goodwill that the company and the union will engender in the workforce by providing a free computer for use in every employee's home. Think of the educational possibilities for the children of each Ford employee.
What would happen if a benefit like this were available to the employees of other large companies?
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Dave Aiello
-- Dave Aiello
Okay, I recognize that irony doesn't come across clearly in a text medium, but I thought my irony was clear enough. Most people never load anything onto their machines that wasn't there when they bought them other than games, tax software and the free CD from some big ISP. I think we all know that.
The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.
I'm disappointed once again in the lack of research on slashdot posts.
m l">the UAW/Ford contract agreement</a> back in October; Ford agreed to study it as part of a broader initiative to extend educational services to workers and their families.
s toryid=674">the Ford press release</a>, access will not be through the corporate network but through the ISP PeoplePC via UUNET.
Nowhere was it mentioned in the original post that this was a result of discussions between the United Auto Workers and Ford during their last contract negotiation. As a result, about half the posts here on the topic questioned the company's motives and intentions, even suspecting that the company wanted to track their internet usage, or limit it to approved sites. Neither appears to be the case.
From what I can tell, this probably came out of a discussion that can be summarized, roughly, as:
"We can't pay that much for a non-tech-savvy workforce."
"Well, then, help make that workforce tech-savvy."
In fact, this was specifically mentioned as part of <a href="http://www.uaw.org/contract99/ford/index.ht
According to <a href="http://www.ford.com/default.asp?pageid=106&
Under US income tax laws, the cost of a service provided by the company as a benefit will have to be subtracted from the market value, and the difference taxed the same as income. Enforcement is always difficult with such benefits, though.
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lake effect weblog
{Network engineer in Chicago--looking for work!}