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Michael Dell Steps Down as CEO
A whole lot of readers made sure we knew that Michael Dell is calling it quits as CEO of Dell, and has named Kevin Rollins, the current president and chief operating officer of Dell, as his successor. Rollins will retain the title of president, but Michael Dell hasn't left completely. He's still planning on sticking around as chairman of the board.
You're getting a huge pension!
a bad*ss like Henry Rollins tearin' it up as CEO. "CUZ I'M A LIAR!"
Look it's a joke about my sig IN MY SIG! LOL!
"Dude, you're getting a Rollins" just doesn't have the same ring to it...
As compared to ....
You stepping down?
So if Michael Dell is stepping down and Kevin Rollins is taking over, does this mean I will soon be able to buy a PC with Rollins written on the case?
Awesome!
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He didn't even wait to copycat Steve on this one! What a shame!
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
must have something to do with exponential growth of Lunux on desktops, which I am told is happening
No kidding. Two years ago 1, last year there were 2, this year: 4!
Perhaps he's interested in plumbing. Ya think?
Someone like Dell will not go quietly into night. Even though his title is changing, nobody believes that he still won't have a profound influence over the company. It is his baby. THis will most likely be like Gates and MS. Sure, his title is different than what it used to be but he certainly still has a tremendous influence.
No trees were harmed in the composition of this; however, numerous electrons were inconvenienced.
Dell has gone a long way in the industry and has helped computing for the masses under Michael Dell's leadership. However, I'm hopefull the new CEO will increase the declining quality of Dell's products. I believe that their cost-cutting measures have really injured their corporate following; they aren't perceived as being as high of quality as they once were.
Said Dell, "It just got to the point where I was so damn rich, It just wasn't fun any more."
Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
Which page is this? Link please...
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
You won't be laughing in 20 years!
This is not a troll, really. I'm just surprised they said something sorta like "Michael will think about The Next Big Thing (tm)" when they are just a hyper-efficient marketing arm/merchandizing facade for Intel. "Dell and R&D" don't go together in my mind, contrary to "Apple and R&D" or "IBM and R&D". Dell is nothing more than a glorified Northgate (or Everex, whatever).
No, IMO, this does not jive. Either M. Dell has other objectives (politics, maybe, I dunno) or there was some sort of back-stage coup.
Dell said at Oracle conference in SF last year that SUN and HP spend too much on overrated research and development and consequently are driving the cost of their systems up even higher.
He should be fired now.
And when we say "sticking around as chairman of the board", we mean "snorting cocaine off the backs of hookers on his yacht".
We all know who the puppetmaster is. You don't have to wear all the hats to still be the man behind the curtain. This doesn't surprise me, Dell's quality has suffered in recent months and it wouldn't surprise me if he was doing this to take some of the pressure off of himself.
I think this is actually a very wise move by Dell, because while this is a guy who started a business on his own and became extremely good at it, I would be surprised (I honestly don't know) if he was that business school MBA who can lead a company over the long run. Plus, if Rollins messes up, he can always blame the new CEO for all the problems.
Maybe under this new leadership Dell will stop it's massive pay cuts to ensure it will have enough money for it's "10K A Day Giveaway."
I would know. My dad is one of the best Dell's licensing sales rep in his building and went from making bank (compared to what he used to make at Circuit City) to making near $60,000. Not only was it shocking at the time, it was appalling when two days later Dell announced it's "10K A Day Giveaway," not to mention the massive payroll cuts a few weeks after that.
Real programmers can write assembly code in any language. -- Larry Wall
You won't be laughing in 20 years!
The joke's on you. I'll be dead in 20 years. Who's laughing now?
"Michael Dell is calling it quits as CEO of Dell, and has named Kevin Rollins..."
Oh man, it'd be so much cooler if he named Henry Rollins as his successor. There would really be some ass kicking going on then...
Dude, you're getting a fucking punch in the face!!!
"It's a tarp!" -- Dyslexic Admiral Ackbar
Yeah, but for many people (especially CEOs, after a while) such decisions have nothing to do with pay. Many of these CEOs work up the ladder (or establish the company, in Dell's case) put in the effort and the hours, earn hundreds of millions of dollars, and don't see any reason to continue working, even though they might make $500K, $1M.
It says that he had softened his role previously, working on big picture issues, and all the things that are sort of fun to do and don't necessarily generate a hard product, so it probably won't change anything. Probably he just got burned out and wanted to do regattas, Larry Ellison-style.
Anyone know if the new guy is Linux-friendly?
I know Dell claims to be, and pretended to try Linux on consumer systems and gave up claiming "they weren't selling"... but that was because of the systems they chose to list Linux as an option with.
Just because we like an OS that _happens_ to be free (in both senses of the word), doesn't mean we're cheapskates!
How many Linux users do you know who would go out and buy the bottom-of-the-line of anything?
We go for the hotrods, bigger/better/faster/more.
I don't care if that monster notebook weighs 8.5#, I'm not a wimp, I want the power and rediculously-high resolution screen!
Actually - after reading an article on installing Linux on an I8600, I priced one - amazing how cheap you can get a 1920x1200 LCD notebook for these days.
Too bad it requires the MS-tax.
The 1st thing I'd do with it is shrink down the MS partition to as small as it goes (to keep it around to make the diag-drones happy) and install Linux on it. (just like I did with the notebook I'm typing this on, sadly only having 1400x1050 on the LCD).
- Preferences: Solaris 10 (servers), Ubuntu (desktops), Solaris 11 (personal servers) -
When I first read the headline I thought Dell had finally outsourced their CEO position.
(No doubt to be closer to the core of the company.)
Support top-down outsourcing!
In other words, he's going to keep getting a paycheck but will no longer work for it.
Shareholders elect the chairman. They do not elect the president or CEO. If Dell remains as chairman, he must be working to increase shareholder gains or else they would fill the role with someone who would. (At the next election opportunity, that is, but we'll see...)
Michael Dell does not own enough shares alone to ensure that he gets or remains chairman; it's the shareholders who decide that.
I can only hope that Mr. Rollins has the balls to step up and start supporting Linux. Dell has always been so wishy-washy about it... especially since they are known to get the largest discounts from M$. Perhaps a new CEO will mean new life for a new millenium and we'll actually get better Linux support across more of their product line.
BTW: anyone notice that Dell's latest snail mail ad catalog was offering RedHat? So was Gateway's.
The only thing necessary for Micro$oft to triumph is for a few good programmers to do nothing". North County Computers
Why doesn't Michael Dell become a school teacher like Woz and actually make a difference in someone's life. He doen't need money but he could do something personally enriching.
<sig>no sig</sig>
Well the company is named after him afterall. Of course he should still receive a paycheck.
Go here - Michael Dell's Page Then click Michael on the menu bar at the top, and go to "Michael's Computers"
Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away. -Rob Malda
Only 15 years ago, Dell's new CEO was up on stage fronting his band, Dexy's Midnight Runners, dressed in faded denim dungarees and singing "Come On Eileen" and now look at him... chairman of a global computer corporation... amazing.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Rollins then proceeded to scream primally and body slam the dainty woman from CNN. DELL stock actually managed to reach negative numbers in early trading but closed out at a price of 2.3x10^-30 per share.
--- Ban humanity.
I'd think that the answer is obvious: Rollins will be Linux-friendly if he thinks it will make Dell more money and he won't if he doesn't.
Personally, I think it'd be more useful if michael got the heave-ho.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
It was more like Dude you getting voted out. The Article doesn't mention it, but radio mentioned that he did not get re- elected to his position as CEO and so they decided to split the position. I can't find mention of it online yet however so no link.
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
A Calcutta Orangutang.
A Minesweeper clone that doesn't suck
One of the reforms suggested (i.e. not enforced by any code or law) by the SEC as a response to the enron/worldcom pseudo-scandal is that the job of CEO and chairman be split. Note that Disney just did this in the hopes of deflecting some dirt.
In the case of Dell: if your company is doing well but you want to split this job to make the Street happy, well, would you take the job that involves more work or the one that involves less? So the CEO job becomes more like a COO...and guess what? Rollins is the COO right now!
Like other posters I doubt this implies much change for Dell the company or Dell the man.
When I first glanced at this... I coulda sworn it said "Cowboy Neil Steps Down as CEO of Bell Labs".
The only thing necessary for Micro$oft to triumph is for a few good programmers to do nothing". North County Computers
Hmmmmm? Wonder why?
I want 2D games back.
You have just shown yourself to be an IE user! The menu only works in IE, here is the page:
s px /corp/michael/en/computers?c=us&l=en&s=cor p
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.a
Go out and get sailing!
the GIANT HEAD of Dell, just got a little smaller.
Actually this is just a investors game. In the wake of some of the corporate scandals, large investors are pushing for the appearance of "better corporate governance". They would prefer that the Chairman of the Board is not also the CEO. The Board is supposed to provide oversight over the people running the day to day operations.
See what just happened at Disney with Eisner.
Gates and Balmer played this game a while back. Let Uncle Fester run the company day to day and be the henchman, and let Billy play research boy and still be Chairman of the Board. Then Billy can run around playing politics, giving PowerPoint presentations, and pretending to be a philanthropist by giving away some of the billions he made running an illegal monopoly in the form of "free Microsoft products for the poor and needy".
But really it means nothing. It's just a sham. Do you really think the GIANT HEAD is going anywhere? He is still in control at Dell.
Isn't that all those catalogs are good for?
My English teacher once told me that two positives don't make a negative. Two words for her: Yeah, right.
Totally off topic, but I hafta defend myself... Actually, I'm a FireFox user, but noticed the page wasn't working in FireFox, so I said a quick prayer, sprinkled some chicken blood on my computer for luck, and fired up IE to get the page...
Shoulda just put a disclaimer in the original post...
Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away. -Rob Malda
He's still planning on sticking around as chairman of the board.
You have been elected Chairman of the Board (again).
Pay each player $50.
Micheal Dell answered: " I just once wanted to do something where Steve Jobs had to follow my footsteps."
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
...to India!
It's true! I read it on BBspot earlier today!
The Dell vision has been and continues to be to enter markets just before they reach commoditization and to rapidly scale up market share by undercutting on price.
Think they don't have R&D people? Think again -- they've got hundreds. But those hundreds are busy looking for the next market Dell can enter and dominate (think of how they entered the server market and, more recently, the PDA market).
Just because someone spends their R&D dollars on econometric models and market research rather than trying to invent truly new products doesn't mean they're not innovating. Dell taught an entire generation of successful companies how to analyze, parse, enter and dominate markets.
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
Maybe he saw this advert:
Senior Plumbing Architect wanted
You will have over 10+ years experience in the plumbing trade, be Corgi approved, and must have experience in the following: Mira Excel/Form/88/Advance/Extreme/Elite 2 and also Bristan Java/Omega/1901/Pinnacle. Experience with Triton, Aqualisa is desirable but not required as training will be provided. Your duties will include mentoring junior plumbers and providing feedback when required. You will also be expected to draw up specifications and cost estimates when necessary. As you will be meeting customers face to face, you will be expected to dress appropriately. A toolkit and company subsidized transport will also be available.
Salary: Negotiable
Why? They just spent the last decade convincing their customers they need "the awesome power of the Intel [chipname] processor".
I mean just because they're more expensive, not really faster and generally are just name doesn't mean you should stick only with one company.
Shit Darwin's just a "theorist" anyways.
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Maybe now that he's got more spare time, he'll post on /. more often!
Frink: Nice try floyd, but you were designed for scrubbing, and scrubbing is what you shall do.
Im sure this is happening because Dell's once bright image is fading into darkness and they are quickly becoming the next Packard Bell, selling junk computers and worse support for them.
Ted Waitt did the same thing at Gateway three or four years ago, to pursue his interests in sexual violence prevention and equitable access to technology. Oddly enough I work on both of those, and have had the chance to meet him several times. Waitt's intelligence and money have helped in these areas, and I can only hope that Michael Dell might think about doing something similar.
Online citizen journalism from the inner city: The View From The Ground
That's sound more like a paraphrase, unless he was just speaking off the cuff. Dell's direct model has always been based on "give the customer what they want when they ask for it", as opposed to "spend a lot of money to build something new and then spend a lot of money trying to convince the customer they need it (at a premium price)", which is the basis of the companies which you, for some reason, prefer to do business with.
Most companies would rather pay the best price for equipment that fulfills their needs. Hence, the popularity of Dell. Apparently your company would rather pay a high-magin markup for the latest and greatest toy, which has yet to be proven to fulfill a need.
What the hell does my weekend hobby have to do with this article on Slashdot?
Um? Why would a Ford dealer sell a competitors car?
Last I checked DELL makes PCs/laptops/etc. They don't actually make the pieces.
However, since they only sell Intel procesesors with their computers they are doomed to follow Intel [up and down]. Say the next P4 [say the P5? oh shit they already made that... um P4-II?] is a bomb. What does DELL do then?
Really it makes good business sense to offer at least one alternative [say AMD and ideally they should offer Crusoe for laptops]. That way if one supplier bombs they're not shit out of product.
The correct analogy would be similar to Hertz only renting Ford cars or something.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Mr. Dell is cashing out because he knows the PC market is TOAST!. PCs are such a commodity now days that Dell doesn't have an advantage anymore. Just look at the sub $200 PCs at Walmart! And with China and Korea quickly sucking up market share, it won't be long before you can nab a highend PC for $200.
I'm not saying this is bad. It's just that Mr. Dell is smart and KNOWS the market is about to crumble. In fact, Dell doesn't make anything anymore, they just rebrand the laptops made by Samsung. Soon, Samsung will cut out the middle man and sell the laptops themselves.
Also, you can forget about fixing and repairing PCs as job security. That goldmine has ran out. Why pay someone $100 just to patch up an older PC when you can get a new one for double that amount (and comes with warranty)?
Life is not for the lazy.
I knew a guy who was fired from Dell after they trumped up an accusation at him for surfing for porn at work. They did that to get around paying unemployement or severance or anything. A lot of people got let go for similar false reasons at a time when a lot of people were let go.
So whenever I hear "Dude, you're getting a Dell" I mentally add "...so bend over and take it"
So Michael has this fabulously fast machine, one that rivals the computing power of God Himself, and he uses it to...
- Play games? No time. He's an executive.
- Compile sophisticated code? Hahahahaha....
- Find the billionth digit of pi? You've got to be kidding.
No, most likely he simply...
- Types emails in Outlook (perhaps with bold text)
- Writes memos and other executive-type papers in Word
- Surfs the internet
- Uses Dell's in-house accounting software
- Makes pretty presentations in PowerPoint
But then again, probably 80%* of the desktop population has many magnitudes more machine than they require. I'm waiting for the day when a computer company realizes that a computer does not have to be the end-all electronic appliance in a home. A glorified toaster for Office, web browsing, and email would suffice for the masses, if they can get their gaming fix from a console. Those of us with real computing needs can get the real computers.
* Warning! Made-up statistic!
For security, the MD5 hash of this message and sig is 09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0.
I guess you haven't met many executives. Golf games, flight sims, sports games. And odd one here and there who can go toe to toe with you in Halo or who'll take the plunge into Desert Combat. So who knows? Maybe Dell eagerly anticipates Half-Life 2 and Doom III as much as the rest of us.
Now, for most of the folks in most offices, no they don't require a machine with much umph to word process, email, and whatever.
This isn't much of a paraphrase. I've heard similar things from the inside of Dell in regards to Compaq's well-known and well-developed R&D division (now part of HP, but still intact as an R&D division last time I checked, which was admittedly many months ago).
Compaq's R&D may be bleeding edge, but to say that it's "yet to be proven to fulfill a need" is just plain ignorant. Just because a SMB (small- to medium-size business) doesn't need systems running RAID arrays that can survive multiple simultaneous drive failures [which Compaq pioneered], or systems employing "RAID memory" technology and can survive on vanilla Dell boxes, doesn't diminish Compaq's contribution in any way. Nor does it elevate Dell's position in the market.
Dell's best market is the ability to cater to the masses at a reasonable cost. However, those of us who have been working in and supporting the Intel server market (and those who've been around longer that have worked with mid-range systems) for more than a decade more clearly recognize the benefits of choosing a Compaq-level service/support/research organization BECAUSE of its R&D division. High-class R&D almost always breeds high-class products, and certainly breeds an environment of TESTING before release. I can name off only one or two faux pas from the Compaq server line (one with a RAID array firmware conflict, the other with a mobo firmware problem) from those 10+ years; I can point out that many problems in only 3 months of my last job where I supported a room full of current Dell's.
In my opinion , Dell does a great job repackaging the latest Intel processor in a vanilla, reference-level server-class [loose term in this usage] motherboard and shipping it out. What I DON'T see from Dell is the requisite testing of those systems together to provide a stable overall level of quality in those servers.
Compaq servers may be slightly behind the bleeding curve because it takes time to properly test hardware and software. If you skip testing, or do a poor job of it, of course you can be first out the door with the latest and greatest. But it's not worth it to me.
Real-world examples:
Company 1 - major 3-letter acronym subsidiary. Could not buy XXX servers internally because mfg couldn't keep up, so we bought Compaqs. We had a high-availability, enterprise class, global infrastructure that almost NEVER failed in 5 years. We had a few Dells in lab and development environments that required a fair number of repairs over the same timeframe. (Yes, this is anecdotal, I know.) For what it's worth, we paid less externally for Compaq servers than we would have internally for XXX servers, which is how I was able to run it right through the XXX CFO's office. :)
Company 2 - Anecdotal, and YMMV, but I've seen this repeated so many times... don't even get me started on the Dell workstations. If I ever have to call Dell Support and get another bonehead in India, I will go postal! Hands-down, the worst tech support I've ever dealt with was Dell's workstation/laptop folks in Bangalore (circa September 2003, and swore never again would I call!)...
Just because a SMB (small- to medium-size business) doesn't need systems running RAID arrays that can survive multiple simultaneous drive failures [which Compaq pioneered]
Actually, no, they didn't do all the RAID pioneering in the PC world. The DDA was an in-house-designed product that was pretty darned nifty for its time, and resulted in quite a few patents for the people who worked on it.
Back in the early 90s, Dell was actually shaping up to be a formidable engineering company in its own right. We (I worked there at the time) designed and debugged our own motherboards and ASICs, and Dell was the first PC vendor to come out with an 80486 workstation, beating Compaq (who was famous for being first with the 80386) to the punch.
People around here seem to be selling Dell short as an engineering outfit, and that's not entirely fair or accurate. After it became clear that the PC was a commodity, Dell's engineering efforts were redirected at manufacturing and support processes rather than the products themselves, and that's when they really started to kick butt. No one -- not HP, not Compaq, not IBM -- proved able to compete with Dell's process engineering talent.
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
Why doesn't Michael Dell spend 14hrs a day working the phones in Bangalore, enriching the life of his customers who spent first-world money only to put up with third-rate service.
For a second there I was starting to think this was true!