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Is the Dell/Microsoft Alliance Fracturing?
An anonymous reader asks: "Dell has historically been the most loyal of all Microsoft's partners. Even today, it is very difficult to avoid paying the Microsoft tax on most of Dell's desktops and notebooks. Recently, two things have made the news where Dell is not toeing the Microsoft line. First, was the announcement that Dell is trialling shipping desktop and notebook PCs in the UK with Firefox as the default browser, instead of IE (announcement confirmed here). Today we have news that Dell is not going to support HD-DVD, despite reported incentives that recently induced HP to do so. So, what are some theories as to why Dell has lately been less of a friend to Microsoft, and what does this mean for the future? Does it mean that it might soon become possible to order Dell's full line of personal systems with Linux installed, or no OS/FreeDOS to save the Microsoft tax?"
Especially when if you are crafty and willing to spend time/go to small claims court, you can get the entire retail price of XP refunded to you (just think of it like a mail in rebate on top of the price of the dell)
Bottles.
Apple-Intel-Dells (I know the OS is Mac, but I couldn't resist) Apple is on the blu-ray foundation and is switching to Intel chipsets, Dell is the largest consumer of Intel chips, Dell has an established 'PC' friendly name that is basically a 'go to' for the direct purchase pc order industry. This has the makings of a win-win-win situation, provided that Apple gets the final veto on all computer/peripheral designs.
What are the odds?
"There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
The reason is that MS is starting to make "computers" for the home that are starting to compete with Dell directly. In the long run, if Dell doesn't switch to another OS such as Linux or OSX, Dell will be literally in hell!
I don't think the AACS delay favors either format because it is delaying them both equally.
Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
Of course they want to use firefox! It will save them a fortune in support calls.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
So if Dell has to package an OS with their system, what will it be?
1) Windows: The status quo. Plug it in and it works (albeit not for long if it's not patched and updated). Extra cost for Dell? Probably a couple bucks per computer, which they gladly pass onto the consumer. Incentives? Coupons/Benefits from Microsoft for $??? total gain.
2) Enterprise type *nix: Dell would probably look at a major commercial player such as Red Hat or SUSE as their distro of choice. SUSE and Red Hat both have standard technical support already in place (for a fee - buying their Enterprise OS). This technical support is very important to Dell because they don't want to have to deal with Q&A about the OS of choice. It's not their field of expertise. However, I could see a deal between Dell and one of them to provide a desktop version of the OS with technical support. In addition, the business models of Red Hat and SUSE are similar to that of the closed system world, which is one less (major) adjustment Dell would have to make to their own system. The catch? There would be a *nix tax as well. Which puts us back at square one (with the exception of one less [troll] evil corporation in the mix [/troll].
3) Free *nix/BSD: Which one to choose? There's so many distros out there. Most of them don't have the status quo technical support available. Instead they have mailing-lists and Wikis. Do the majority of computer users know what those things are or are able to use them (especially if X won't load for some reason!). The majority of users need the technical support over the phone that most of us dread.
Until there's a solution made for the technical support that joe-schmoe user needs is made available for *nix distros, I don't see Windows being replaced as the default OS on consumer grade PCs.
http://www.asti-usa.com
Also, you still need IE for Windows Update, and probably always will. Only that Dell is installing Firefox and setting it as the Default browser, and probably removing the shortcuts to iexplore.exe
/. is good for you.
Your right. Sorry about that.
User-friendlyness not only depends on the interface but also how fool-proof is the software. It is a difficult ballance between keeping people who don't know what their doing away, while allowing those who do to work. In some ways, I think Microsoft has managed to do this (at least they provide a link allowing users to look at the files), but I think that there is still more to be desired. My own personal suggestion would be to make a user that only has certain privilidges like mounting and apt-get'ing (if you are using Debian or something similar). If you installed GNU/Linux for a friend, offer them some technical support, and don't tell them about root. Let them figure it out for themselves. When they do, they will probably be smart enough not to delete the files.
Consider the fact that MS is in pretty warm water in the EU. It does not take a huge leap for MS to put a bug in Dell's ear to preinstall Firefox. It doesn't cost them anything. Windows is still installed, and paid for, and Firefox is no threat to Windows. Firefox drives 0 users away from Windows. So if it makes the EU happy, then it makes MS happy too.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It wasn't just that. The clones cannibalized the Apple market. The goal, originally, was to have the clone vendors expand the Mac market.
What this told Apple, I assume, is that it wasn't limited hardware choice or a lack of diversity in marketing that was limiting the growth of the Mac's market share. That meant that some other factor was -- maybe the range or quality of applications, the quality of the OS, or one of the other problem areas for Apple.
The correct action was to disallow the clones. They also lowered their prices a little, and the effect was that the unofficial clones slowly went away. The market share kept shrinking. (And the margin on any computer shrank, much to everyone's delight.)
I think Apple's gone a little too far in the other direction, though. They're releasing a lot of software, and that probably discourages the independent software vendor market. Final Cut Pro, Shake (whatever it's called now), iWork, iLife.... all great software, but they basically lock out other vendors. They're trying to do for themselves what Microsoft did with Excel (killing Lotus) and Word (killing Word Perfect) and Visio (ending Visio's independence).
(Also, I think it was Scully who ended the clone wars.)
idiots isn't too harsh, it's not even close to being harsh enough.
you need a license to drive you car, don't you? not servicing it, just driving it. your computer is a lot more complicated, and potentially a lot more dangerous than a car. why is it that surprising that you should at LEAST have a basic knowledge of wtf it is you're doing?
people usually reply with "but i don't have a choice! everything is on the computer!". yes you do have a choice, you CAN type your papers on a typewritter, you CAN get the newspaper for your news, you CAN go to the library for your information. you CHOOSE not to because it's more convenient to just look it up on the internet.
a computer is a tool. if you don't understand your tool, don't fuck with it or don't use it.
Dell in Sweden allready ships laptops with no OS installed. We recently bought two. I only asked the sales rep which laptops works best with linux. They suggested a model (latitude D610) and shipped. I actually expected there would be some MS stuff installed but when I powered them up they turned out to be empty. Quite lovely. They both now run Ubuntu. I had to work a few minutes to get native screen resolution though. /jarek
I think this is exactly the reason. What you need to realise is that half of M$ income is comming from the M$ Office package. What would happen to this if Dell would, for example, decide to preinstall OpenOffice.org 2.0 on all the new customer machines as a value add? Why wouldn't they? I think the next five years will see a dramatic changes in the power distribution thanks to this one bargaining chip.
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
Firefox drives 0 users away from Windows.
Not that I disagree with the rest of your post but Firefox (Mozilla actually) helped drive me away from Windows. Halo effect I guess.
As the original poster said, they have absolutely been the least supportive of any major PC manufacturer of linux. Now they are trying to break into the 'server' market (which they are a jonny-come-lately to), which they try to define as ms windows, ms sql 2005, etc. the hell with em.
A few weeks ago, my mother asked me what a popup was after talking with a friend. ;)
I felt I had accomplished something
Death by snoo-snoo!
And yet, according to Consumer Report's latest reliability survey, Dell only ranks behind Apple and Sony for fewest "Repairs and Serious Problems" for Desktops, at around 15-16%
(Based on more than 85,000 desktop computers purchased new between 2001 and 2005, according to responses to our 2005 Annual Questionnaire. Data were standardized to eliminate differences linked to age and use. Differences of 4 or more points are meaningful.)
However, curiously, for *laptops*, Dell ranks 6th, after Sony, IBM, Toshiba, Apple, and HP (in that order) at around 17-18%. (Sony is at around 16%.) It's interesting to me that Dells repair rate is pretty close to the same for laptops and desktops, but in the laptop category that's just not as good. When did laptops in general become more reliable than desktops? (That certainly hasn't been my anecdotal experience.)
It's also interesting that the reliability numbers for Apple laptops doesn't seem to measure up to their desktops. They appear to have the biggest reliability gap between desktops and laptops. (11% vs 16-17%)
(Based on more than 49,000 laptop computers purchased between 2001 and 2005, according to responses to our 2005 Annual Questionnaire. Data were standardized to eliminate differences linked to age and use. Differences of 3 or more points are meaningful.)
This amounted to a pretty big subsidy for the Windows versions of computers; and if you add up all the software companies doing this game, I bet it vastly exceeds the cost of windows.
Until the crippleware subsidy industry gets as big for Linux, I expect you'll always see the OEMs prefer Windows.
Maybe Dell are going to build the Intel-Macs for Apple, as they already have closer dealings with Intel and quite possbily could get bigger discounts for the chipsets? If this is so, then Apple in return could allow Dell to sell the Intel Macs via their website, maybe even using their own customer support network. Dell may even have helped Apple to accelerate the introduction of the new Macs as a result.
The bottom line would be a partnership between Dell and Apple, which if successful may mean that Dell could lower their support for Windows when Vista is released; which by all accounts appears to be bloatware. Might even force Microsoft to continue shipping XP for longer as a result.
Could this be the real reason why Microsoft have stopped all support for IE on the MAC?
It's not likely Dell will get a better deal from MS if they do ship IE (oh... wait...) Still, I never quite got the grasp of it: what are the security issues with having IE installed, *if* you don't use it to browse the net at all?
Ship Windows with IE as much as you like, just set the default browser to Firefox. ?
Not to jump on the "Dell lovez Linux!!! WHEE!!!!!1" bandwagon (because I'm not seeing it yet either), but who does better? In my experience with using a Dell (which I bought before I switched to Linux), I've had a very good time finding specifications for all components online (looking at what my monitor can handle when setting up X and checking the specs on the... I'm retarded) whereas I've had a bear of a time with family and friends' computers. I've also had no problems getting anything working on it; all components work right out of the box on Linux.
Again, I'm not trying to argue, but I've just not heard of any better 'support' from other manufacturers.
However, until the final changes of Microsoft's Licensing for Vista and Versions are in place it's still just rumors at this point.
Put in a few things, put some pressure on microsoft to cut an even better deal cause that makes a threat to take their toys and walk away more frightning. Would they get rid of Microsoft? hardly... all the crippleware they sell space for wouldn't work on Linux and that makes up a hefty chunk of change. This is simply a pressure tactic.
"If Sony had laid off the DRM a bit, then the small music player industry might look a lot different."
But they didn't, because they are Sony, so it failed everywhere except Japan. European and American buyers are not in the least enthusiastic about a recording system which refuses to record things, irrespective of how small it is or how long it runs on a set of batteries. Perhaps the Japanese were content to listen to recordings of themselves doing some Karaoke or whatever, but Europeans and Americans expected to be able to transfer music _that they legitimately owned_ on to it, and couldn't. So they didn't buy it, despite some concerted attempts to market it in many countries.
NB: there is a lesson in Mini-Disk that manufacturers have apparently still not learned, i.e. that people will not spend money on new technology which is better than what they already have in some ways, but prevents them from doing other things that their older gear permitted. As long as any DRM schemes are effectively invisible to Joe Public, then they'll be accepted without question, because most people won't ever know they're there. The word will however get around pretty quickly the moment anything breaks the expected "put thing in slot, listen to cool sound or dig great video" formula that they already have from today's gear: degraded video or sound quality, messages about unauthorised equipment, time-shifted shows that erase themselves after a certain time, and other such measures will result in the new DRM-encumbered stuff being seen as "crap", just like Mini-Disk was.
I'm not going to change your sheets again, Mr. Hastings.