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Dell Installs Google Software at Factory
simonjp writes "BBC News are reporting that Dell will be installing Google software onto their new machines as part of the software build. Details appear sketchy, but this signifies the first step for Google from being just something you can download to an almost 'essential' software provider. They report that both sides are to benefit from the deal, and that 'more is to come.'"
Google, you used to be cool, but ever since you got your own appartment, & had to start paying bills, you've just been kind of a drag.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Google desktop came with my Dimension E510 ~three months ago. Is Dell just reporting this now?
Don't tell me everything will be Google(TM) Dell(TM) edition! I guess it is a milestone, but it certainly isn't something to look foreward to. Any what stuff would be bundled? Sounds like Search and maybe Earth will be there, maybe some unanounced projects? I mostly equate bundled dell software to music match jukebox heh, and I dont know of a google music yet...
The laptop I bought a month and a half ago came with google desktop & toolbar preinstalled. I suppose this means that they'll be adding things beyond those 2?
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 Race
12112
Damn right they're sketchy. It's annoying enough when a computer comes with extra software, but if it's adware--which is what the Google stuff is no matter how "cool" they are--it's "value reduced". Google's just becoming more and more like every other publicly traded company.
<xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
Dell Googlled
Or so one would think, were one to hang out here long enough. There's noting more entertaining than watching the groupthink have a go at the ol' double standards, though. So... go! Make us proud! Start tap dancing! The folks that say that dumb people are too dumb to alter defaults or install on their own (and thus, by their own stupidity, are having their choice removed from them) are also the first ones to say that Google just needs a "fair" shot at the desktop to completely stomp MS. Hmmm.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
By the time these things get to the owner, is there any room left on them for installing real software?
Dell's ridiculous amount of pre-installed crap is taking the concept of bloat to all new levels.
Dude, your gettin' google
This just once again proves my point....
Google Toolbars will form Skynet, all that we know and love are DOOMED!
I don't know of any software Google produces that is worth bundling with a new machine. Google Earth? Nope. Picasa? Maybe. Google Desktop? No thanks.
As far as I'm concerned, Google belongs in one of my browser tabs, not on my hard drive.
If Dell and Google want to do a service to consumers, Google would give Dell a pile of money to put Firefox on the desktop.
That sound you just heard was the crashing of chairs coming from the direction of Redmond, WA :)
Google's software has been coming preloaded with Dell computers for about 3 1/2 months now, but was only a trial period, a "test" if you will. Now it looks like it is an official, permanent policy.
Are they preloading Firefox and make it the default browser? The Google softwar pack included OpenOffice too. Both will be included? That will be interesting.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Google cries faul when Microsoft makes MSN the default search engine in IE7, where it's easily changable and Google is right in the selection, but Google gets ties with Dell and other distributers to preinstall all it's stuff on the machines, shoving their search bar everywhere in sight and no so much as a glance? Hypocrites?
I had google desktop installed by default on my new Thinkpad t60p.
It was one of the first things I removed.
Clearly we need this more than ever now.
http://www.yorkspace.com/2006/04/38
Google Pack includes the following pieces of Software:
Google Earth - 3D Earth browser
Google Desktop - Desktop companion
Picasa - Photo organizer
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer
Google Pack Screensaver - Photo screensaver
Google Talk - Voice and IM application
Google Video Player - Video player
Additional Software
Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar - Web browser
Ad-Aware SE Personal - Antispyware utility
Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition - Antivirus utility
Adobe Reader 7 - PDF reader
RealPlayer - Media player
GalleryPlayer HD Images - Images
One wonders what Dell is pre-instaling. Would they install firefox and get on MS' bad side?
Of the whole list, I personally use Picasa (on Windows, my primary app is iPhoto on my G4), Firefox, and Acrobat. Some of the apps, I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole: Norton's, Real Player.
now i'm really interested to see what they're bundling, or are they just including a link to the google pack?
uhmm, if google also promotes firefox, why didn't it came with firefox + google toolbar instead of ie?
The company I work for does, for one. It is much easier to work with hundreds of systems when you've got only a handful of types in the building, and can get replacement parts for years (warranty or not).
Oh, and so it comes with Google, just one more hunk of junk software to remove after the machine arrives. You want a clean install? Pay for a clean disk and a copy of the OS to install yourself.
Dell is also modifing the Default User's NTuser.dat to add this Google stuff into place. Even if you remove the software the registry settings remain for each account created. It removes one of Dell's advantages in the Corp. World: near-drop-in systems.
Though, in all realisticness, I dare any slashdotter to build a $300 system with monitor and legal copy of XP. A third of your budget is shot on the OS, and even if you figure $400 shipped (and quite often they've got free shipping) you'll be hard pressed to beat that price. I'm not advocating or vouching for them, but you've gotta admit that they own the entire value segment. Of course, if you could buy your hard drives by the millions, feel free to start competing.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
I've always wondered why Sun was unable to get Dell and others to pre-install the Java VM. If they could have gotten Dell, HP, Compaq, Acer to pre-install, then everyone would have had to follow. There is no reason to _not_ preinstall Java. It is free and it doesn't use resources unless you use it.
I can think of only one reason, and that is that Microsoft had some compelling reason for _not_ installing Java.
If Sun had managed to do this 5 or 6 years ago the software map might have been looking completely different.
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
Windows doesn't come with a photo organizer. Picassa is a great one. Makes sense to me.
You are probably familiar with the earlier versions of Google Desktop which, aside from the search, were basically a fancy distraction, but the features that I have on mine right now enhance my productivity: nice to-do list, scratch pad, google calendar, weather. None of these things are present or nearly as convenient in Windows. The search is also fantastic, and completely obsoletes the default Windows search.
You left out Google Talk. I think including a chat program that uses an open standard, with no ads and a nice interface is a good addition.
I haven't tried to use Google Earth for more than the pretty factor, but I bet someone who has can tell me what they do with it.
A girl, a tan, a canal. Ipanema!
No, wait . . .
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Agreed. When my parents bought a Dell (I was away at college but still offered to build a cheap rig for them, they went with Dell because of a "free flat panel monitor upgrade" through their Educator's discout [they're teachers]). I went home for a weekend and saw it, formatted it for them (it was slow as... slow) and threw on a clean install of XP (they didn't want Linux) along with all the programs they needed. It actually runs decent now (considering it was a $700 buy with monitor). I don't see why computer companies throw so much slop-ware on computers they sell... wouldn't it make more sense to make a computer FASTER to the consumer by leaving off all the unnecessary software (I work at a university helpdesk, and HP and Compaq seem to be the worst when it comes to this -- the best seem to be the "unknown" manufacturers like Averatec... but I'm guessing that will change when they get big enough and create a "useless software" deptartment).
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Have any of you doorknobs ever actually USED a Dell with the default install? OF COURSE it's installed! So is every other piece of useless junk you'd never want. AOL? Sure! 30 day trials of software? Why not! Demos of otherwise productive software? ***SIGN ME UP***
The default configuration also happens to use up more than 512MB of memory AT STARTUP. No programs open, just the tray icons for software that won't work for much longer, and AOL sitting there like the sword of damocles.
the first thing I always recommend someone do after buying a Dell is getting rid of any trace of that install, because it's worse than useless. A bare install with the utilities you actually want and basic drivers will run so much faster than the standard install, work so much better, and try to sell you so much less in the process, that I'd go so far as to say that google adding their 2 cents to this software cacophany is just a nice addition to the tragedy.
It's been a long time.
When this was AOL or MSN, sources that were known to filter news and other unconsionable actions, this was BAAAAAAAAAD(!).
Now that it's Google, which has been shown recently to filter news and engage in other (arguably) unconscionable actions... is it.. still... BAAAAAAD(!)?
I'm.. just.. wondering.
It doesn't really matter to me what software comes preinstalled. If I were to purchase a Dell computer, then the first thing I would do is format the hard drive and reinstall the operating system in order to clear out all the superfluous software. I did this with my laptop and startup/shutdown times are less than half of what they used to be.