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Dell Installs Google Software at Factory

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the yes-have-some dept.

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.'"

8 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Old news? by Saedrael · · Score: 5, Informative

    Google desktop came with my Dimension E510 ~three months ago. Is Dell just reporting this now?

    1. Re:Old news? by christopherfinke · · Score: 5, Funny

      Didn't you get the memo from Digg? Tech sites are to report all Google-related news, even in situations like these, where this Dell/Google alliance has apparently just gone from beta to stable.

  2. Details sketchy? by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

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    <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
    1. Re:Details sketchy? by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Normally I wouldn't reply to an AC, but is this thinking why I was modded down?

      It's one thing for a search engine to be ad supported, it's another thing entirely for ad-supported software to be installed on a bought-and-paid-for computer, especially when that ad software runs in the background, indexes your e-mail and other documents you nomally think of as private, and gives Google a way of circumventing people's normal attempts at privacy, like deleting cookies.

      This is spyware, no way around it, and it'll only get more invasive.

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      <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
  3. That sound by segfault7375 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That sound you just heard was the crashing of chairs coming from the direction of Redmond, WA :)

  4. Firefox? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  5. Java by 3770 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

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    The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
  6. Re:Let me get this straight... by bucky0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not really. This is kinda paraphrased from something Google's CEOs said when asked the same question on another story that was posted a while back. Basically, they argued this: Microsoft can make MSN the default search engine for IE7 for free. They can make IE the default browser for free. When Firefox moved to having google be the default browser, Google had to fork over a ton of money. When Google gets distributers to preinstall Google software on their machines, they pay a ton of money for it.

    The difference is that Microsoft is leveraging it's position as the dominant OS manufacturer to allow it to force its way into different markets for free whereas all of MS's competitors have to pay a lot of money to do the same thing. I'm inclined to agree with Google.

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    -Bucky