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Dell Protests 'Not Wintel's Lapdog'

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the doth-protest-too-much dept.

An anonymous reader writes "C|Net is reporting on a protestation by Dell's CTO, Kevin Kettler, who says quite loudly that they are not Microsoft and Intel's puppet." From the article: "Essentially, Kettler argued, Dell was responsible for selecting, if not necessarily developing, many of the technologies in today's desktop computers and servers. Among standards for which he said Dell deserves credit are 802.11 wireless networking, PCI Express communications technology and 64-bit extensions to Intel's x86 line of processors."

15 of 449 comments (clear)

  1. Uhhhh.... by LinuxGeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't this like Pinocchio claiming that he isn't Geppetto's puppet?

    --

    Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
    1. Re:Uhhhh.... by rblancarte · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yea, I gotta agree. This is funny.

      Dell, you don't use AMD chips because you are afraid of Intel.
      Dell, you don't sell Linux because you are affraid of MS.

      You, know they are right. They are not their puppet. They are their BITCH.

      RonB

      --
      It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
  2. 802.11b???? by Pfhor · · Score: 5, Informative

    What about apple and Airport, built into the ibook, released in 1999. I do not believe ANYONE had a builtin 802.11b solution back then, except for apple. (there was 802.11b, just as a pc card).

    In fact, the ibooks were delayed because they had yet to pass FCC testing when they were announced at MacWorld.

    1. Re:802.11b???? by viniosity · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I worked on Airport while at Apple and I can confirm that we did indeed work with Lucent but we did not simply rebrand their tech. Lots of effort from many Apple Engineers went into that product. I personally spent a month at their HQ in Holland working on the freaking thing.

      Unfortunately, unlike other Apple efforts, this one gets little to no recognition today. (Parent's parent post excluded of course).

    2. Re:802.11b???? by Sentry21 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Don't forget other first-to-market standard features, like gigabit ethernet, bluetooth, USB, 802.11g, and many other features that weren't standard until Apple started pushing them. Dell may not be Intel's lapdog necessarily (debatable), but they certainly aren't the innovators they claim to be.

  3. This Just In by masterpenguin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple Exec Claims "We're Not IBM's Lapdog" And they've proven that. If Dell's CTO wants some crediblity on his statement, maybe he should try to make public moves that show it.

  4. Awwww. by Wellington+Grey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course you're not a wittle doggie woggie, are you Kettler whettler? Now who wants a treat? Who wants a treat? Good boy!

    -Grey

    --
    Silver Clipboard: Time Management Tips
  5. So sad. by Majikk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Delusions of Relevance.

  6. Why So Defensive? by mveloso · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dell doesn't really need to be defensive. They do one thing, and they do it really well: Dell builds cheap computers. There's a lot of value there, the quality of their product and support notwithstanding.

    Sure, they don't really do R&D. But they don't need to - they have Intel, Microsoft, Lexmark, and the rest of the OEM partners to do that. They are a gateway to the market, not a market-maker. That's their niche. It's a really big one, and they do it really well. After all, they do make billions a year. And unlike Microsoft, they do it without being a monopoly.

  7. Hah! by Onan · · Score: 5, Insightful


    The ironic part is that Dell has always been very up-front about the fact that they do no research, pioneer no technologies, and create nothing new. Dell is all about execution, not creation: they manufacture devices based upon the technologies of others, deliver them to consumers, and do it with very low overhead.

    Which is a perfectly fine thing for them to do. It's not heroic work, but neither is being a plumber, and we still like to have them around.

    But I have to admit that my respect for any plumber would go down if he started trying to convince me that he's the one that actually discovered the Bernoulli Principle.

  8. More like Intel is Dell's puppet. by LOTHAR,+of+the+Hill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dell is Intel's best customer. Intel bends over backwards seven different ways to keep them happy. Intel will give Dell what they want, or Dell will build AMD systems. There's been several times when rumors of Dell selling AMD based systems. Shortly after that, Dell quashes the rumor and announces a major new partnership with Intel.

  9. Risk aversion by erice · · Score: 5, Insightful

    HomeRF (Intel) vs 802.11 (Dell)
    DDR (Dell) vs RAMBUS (Intel)
    Itanium (Intel) vs x64 (Dell)

    Sounds to me like Dell always follows Intel, unless Intel's choice is too risky. The last item is an excelent example. Itanium is risky so Dell wanted nothing of that. On the other hand, using non-Intel processors is risky so Dell just waited until Intel brought out 64bit x86 processors.

    Dell isn't Intel's puppet. Dell is simply run by cowards and, most of the time, Wintel is the safest choice. Dell will follow wherever Intel leads, unless it's out on a limb.

  10. Re:Did anybody even RTF Article? by kfg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He doesn't claim to have invented or developed them, he claims to have *pressured Intel into adopting them*

    Indeed, and just because the dog drags the owner about by the leash a bit doesn't mean he's not still the dog.

    One good tug on the choke chain'll bring 'im up short.

    KFG

  11. Re:WTF? by ottffssent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    *sigh*

    Please read before you post. You don't even need to read the article: the submittor ripped off the relevant article text for the summary.

    Dell's not taking credit for 64-bit ISA extensions to x86. They're taking credit for forcing Intel to add them to their Pentium and Xeon lines rather than reserve 64 bit goodness for the doomed Itanium line. The point is that, rather than mutely accept the scraps Microsoft and Intel throw their way, Dell has the clout and the will to push Intel around.

    --
    High-speed Road Trip (18.000KPH)
  12. Re:Internet != NSFnet by lysergic.acid · · Score: 5, Informative

    Internet != ARPAnet

    And did you read the GP? Al Gore never claimed to have invented the internet. That's just a strawman attack that Gore critics like to bring up continuously. Al Gore stated that he took the initiative in creating the internet, as he was the first politician to recognize the importance of the internet and did in fact promote and support its development from his seat in Congress in the early days of the net. Even Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn have recognized his initiative as having been vital to the success of the internet as it exists today.

    From Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn's joint statement:

    No one person or even small group of persons exclusively "invented" the Internet. It is the result of many years of ongoing collaboration among people in government and the university community. But as the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time.

    Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet." We don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he "invented" the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective.

    As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship. Though easily forgotten, now, at the time this was an unproven and controversial concept. Our work on the Internet started in 1973 and was based on even earlier work that took place in the mid-late 1960s. But the Internet, as we know it today, was not deployed until 1983. When the Internet was still in the early stages of its deployment, Congressman Gore provided intellectual leadership by helping create the vision of the potential benefits of high speed computing and communication. As an example, he sponsored hearings on how advanced technologies might be put to use in areas like coordinating the response of government agencies to natural disasters and other crises.

    As a Senator in the 1980s Gore urged government agencies to consolidate what at the time were several dozen different and unconnected networks into an "Interagency Network." Working in a bi-partisan manner with officials in Ronald Reagan and George Bush's administrations, Gore secured the passage of the High Performance Computing and Communications Act in 1991. This "Gore Act" supported the National Research and Education Network (NREN) initiative that became one of the major vehicles for the spread of the Internet beyond the field of computer science.

    ...

    So get a clue before you start discrediting other people and perpetuating gross exagerations of their statements.