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Dell Gives Android the Boot, Boots Up More Windows 8
hugheseyau writes "Dell vice chairman Jeff Clarke made a less than shocking announcement at this year's Dell World Conference in Austin. The company is officially giving up on Android phones and tablets. ... So if Dell is giving up on Android, what comes next? The company claims it's doubling down on Windows 8, and the enterprise market."
Customers disappearing? It's time to turn back the clock and go back to what made your name in the first place. If you're a restaurant, it's a great idea. If you're a technology company, it's suicide. Bye Dell, it was nice while you lasted!
It's not like Dell hasn't wandered into markets before and failed miserably
Of course sometimes they just don't know when to quit.
Eventually, they'll get the hint and just focus on making servers and business workstations...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Uhh.. the reason those features don't exist is to clearly push those kinds of customers towards Windows 8 Pro. It's the same reason why Office RT doesn't have Outlook. Microsoft doesn't want Windows RT to be used in enterprise and there are plenty of clues as to why not.
So why dump Android? According to Clarke, “It’s a content play with Android”. “Amazon is selling books and Google is making it up with search.
So, basically, there was competent competition, and Dell's me-toosim wasn't cutting it.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Dell made an Android tablet, known as the Dell Streak, it was not a success. Expensive, crap screen, underpowered, cheapy feeling.
So now they're switching to Windows 8, with their expensive underpowered crap screens, cheap feeling tablets, THEY'RE SURE TO BE HUGELY SUCCESSFUL!!!
Methinks they're not fixing the real problem. Android sell in bucket loads and if they couldn't sell a tablet with it, then they needed to refine their tablet designs till they did sell. Change Android for Windows 8, doesn't fix their problems, it just adds another one: no touch apps.
It's all going BYOD. As much as I hate it, its all going BYOD. Bad move, Dell.
Even RIM, which is based on the enterprise, is changing.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,"
Michael Dell
To me, the news is that Dell made phones/tablets. I'd never heard of them before, nor have I ever seen any.
Am I the only one here?
Last time I checked, gambling behavior as a primary hobby or profession wasn't considered respectable or responsible, it was considered borderline sociopathic.
If I were a stockholder I'd be worried. Technology these days seems to be about a combination of giving people what they want and convincing people of what they want. Android, to an extent, is giving people what they want, as Android is popular with users as well as with OEMs. Windows 8, by and large, does not appear to be popular, either in portable devices or on the desktop.
So, Dell is now moving to a system of neither giving people what they want, nor convincing people of what they want.
I don't think that Dell is in any danger of going Chapter 7. Where I work buys Dell just about exclusively, in a 30,000 desktop environment. The paltry sales Apple or other OEMs get is almost not worth mentioning. But, their extra markets, like phones, tablets, and other consumer devices will probably die.
I had actually wanted a Dell phone back in the day, but they weren't compatible with my cell provider. Otherwise they had the features I wanted. Pity that...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
As the only Dell Streak 7 Android developer left, it doesn't surprise me that Dell has abandoned Android. I've spent over a year trying to get them to comply with the GPL and give me the last source code for their last kernel update. Every request I have put forth has been turned down or rejected. I still try my best to keep this tablet up to date with ICS and JB, but I can only do so much without more support.
Windows 8 and Server 2012 are far from "enterprise" they are basically toys.
Agreed. It seems the purpose of Windows 8 is to provide a consumer-oriented environment conducive to buying content such as music, movies, books, etc like on the iPad and other tablets and smartphones. To date, the only things I've seen people doing with Windows 8 systems in commercials is playing movies, games, finger painting, Skype, "clicking, clicking, clicking," sliding and (often angry) dancing. No one's using the thing for any actual work...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Their business support doesn't suck though. If you're an enterprise-level customer and have your IT staff certified through Dell's online coursework then you can do all of your warranty work in-house and they generally next-day parts to you, and they really don't make a big deal of misdiagnosed machines where you end up replacing perfectly good parts. We use mostly Optiplexes and Latitudes and keeping up with about 30,000 PCs has been possible with a paltry staff.
Personally I'm typing this on a several-year-old Lenovo Ideapad S10-2, my wife uses a Thinkpad X301, and Dad bought an Ideapad G550 based on our recommendations, so I like old-IBM/Lenovo fairly well, but I don't think that Dell is quite as bad overall as you've dealt with. I'm using an old Latitude D520 at work in the field without problems, and my Optiplex 780 workstation has handled its duties without problems.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Touchscreen-enabled Chromebooks could change all that in 2013 though.
To date, the only things I've seen people doing with Windows 8 systems in commercials is playing movies, games, finger painting, Skype, "clicking, clicking, clicking," sliding and (often angry) dancing. No one's using the thing for any actual work...
Well, sure... in commercials. But in the real world no one's using the thing at all.
Dell walks into a cheese shop, looks around poking and sniffing and suddenly a clerk (who looks vaguely like John Cleese) pops up from behind the counter!
Clerk: May I help you, Sir?
Dell: Why yes, I'd like some cheese!
Clerk: We have a lovely Apple Brie here, smooth, creamy, the customers can't seem to get enough?...
Dell: Arrghhh, No, Thank you.
Clerk: Perhaps a nice sharp Android Cheddar? Its full bodied, not as smooth as the Brie, but technically fuller?...
Dell: No, I don't want any lousy Android.
Clerk: Well then Sir, what did you have in mind?...
Dell: I'd like a great big fat slab of the Microsoft Limburger!!!
Clerk: Sir, I haven't sold any Microsoft in a fortnight, are you sure you wouldn't want something a wee bit fresher?
Dell: No, My minds made up, I want the Microsoft, and bowl of raw garlic cloves and I'll eat it here!
Clerk: Are you daft! You're going to die of indigestion and your head'll explode! Then I'll have to call a hazardous waste team to have you remains removed from the premises!
Dell: What could go wrong? As long as I finish off with a Wafer Thin Mint, I'll be fine, by the way, have you ever sold parrots?
You have actually worked in the real world, yes? Windows servers are far from toys and are in use in plenty of enterprises the world over.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
In other words, Microsoft made Dell another offer they couldn't refuse by not shipping other operating systems. It's not the first time, but with the public's acceptance of Windows 8, it could be the last.
Yes, because a commercial that shows a tired sysadmin plugging away at powershell is sure to sell copies of Win8!
"OH SHIT SON! That series of piped commands to remove a set of Hyper-V VM network adapters is OFF THE CHAIN!" "Look at these sexy parameters to AD powershell scripts, these guys are able to dance AND admin their azure subscriptions at the SAME TIME!"
What's not to like? Facebook and Twitter integration for your Primary Domain Controller and Exchange Server is the next evolution of social networking. Your PDC can tweet for help when it suffers a drive failure. Your Exchange Server can post a message on your timeline about your technical incompetence. Smells like progress to me.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Please name me a feature that Linux has that Windows doesn't that is useful on the enterprise level.
You can use it any way you want, as much as you want, and you won't fail an audit as long as you don't publish modified code.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
I would watch the shit out of that commercial.
1. passive dedup could be done in userland using a script. big deal..
2. fs level crc/hashing already exists in ext4, but it is a recent feature. It's recent in windows too, so I don't see how either should be considered stable or reliable.
3. There are hardware crypto chips available which have drivers in linux, but I wouldn't trust them any more than TPM. If you're going to use crypto at the enterprise level, at least use something that you can have verified.
4. define 'joke'. what is lacking with linux lvm2? Most raid solutions in enterprise servers are hardware anyway.
5. logging is one of the most confusing messes ever on windows. this has been true since NT4 at least.. most of it is meaningless boilerplate that doesn't really tell you anything. If you're lucky, you get a hex string to shove into a search engine so you can join discussions on forums of people guessing at the problem just like you. Like managing the registry (vs text in /etc), it's mostly unsearchable without 3rd party tools and offers no more resistance to tampering than any other OS, but if you just mean the auditors give windows a free pass because it's the entrenched standard, you're right.
--
linux/bsd positives non all inclusive list.
1. sensible, flexible, searchable logging system that can be as verbose or as cryptic/dense as desired.
2. self contained services, each with manageable configurations.. easy to backup/propagate to many machines.
3. flexible thinclient configurability, from netboot disk images of standard distros to complete custom builds for each netboot device type. windows' botches this with remote desktop and licensing nonsense. Its nonsensical directory structure doesn't help either. the default windows installer ties the install to the specific machine and is not easily imageable without use of microsoft-designed hackneyed tools.
4. sensible install/uninstall tracking. windows has always been terrible at this.
5. No licensing auditors!
6. for intractable problems, having the sourcecode helps immensely. of course, this requires admins who actually know something about what they're administrating. with windows, unless you're a fortune 100 or better, you don't get that kind of attention from microsoft or any of its 3rd party 'solution providers', which do little more than patch serious functionality lapses in the base microsoft products, for exorbitant fees of course.
7. open source crypto engine with a variety of ciphers and hashing algos. Take your pick.. The admin can crypt a single directory, partition, or whole disk. the open part is key here since who the hell knows if there are backdoors in bitlocker or the TPM. It would not surprise me if there were. By using crypto, you admit you're paranoid, so why not go all the way and have the source verified by an entity you trust (or have it done in house)?
8. no upgrade treadmill.. upgrade as quickly or as slowly as you like. no pressure.
FYI: linux has zfs.
ZFS is the only FS to checksum data, ReFS checksums the metadata.
along that line, ZFS has dedupe and realtime snapshotting (something that windows doesnt have) HyperV snapshotting doesnt count.
But windows server 2012 is pretty sweet none the less.
So... is this a suicide note?
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Please name me a feature that Linux has that Windows doesn't that is useful on the enterprise level.
1 - I can run fully functional VM instances of it in 64MB or 128MB of RAM and 2GB hard-drive on my VSphere cluster doing infrastructure work like DNS cache/DHCP in my custom VLANs. Windows Server Core is pretty light, but not quite THAT light. Frees up RAM for my heavy duty stuff.
2 - I trust it to run as a layer 4 multi-card firewall/router directly exposed to the internet that is far more configurable and powerful than an off-the-shelf solution. I'm not even sure what the equivalent to shorewall would be on windows.
3 - RADV demon for IPv6 running on an aforementioned mini VM. DHCPv6 and internet connection sharing aren't the same.
4 - NGINX web server wipes the floor with IIS for most web-serving duties on pretty much any metric you care to mention; security, robustness, speed, flexibility. And yes, I am also running several IIS servers for .NET 3rd party apps, alas.
5 - No licence worries about whether I've exceeding my allowed server count. Not all businesses can just drop a few extra K for more server licences on demand these days.
Don't get me wrong; I am running a bunch of Windows 2008R2 servers (AD, DFS file servers, dynamic DNS, Terminal Servers, several 3rd party app specific boxes, hyper-v trial for poor man's VDI) and they do their job - serve data to windows and osx desktops/laptops - well most of the time. (except the DFS setup, that's a been a buggy pain in the arse). But our network is a synthesis, using the strengths of both platforms to do what they do best.
BTW - BTRFS will be the equivalent or better to ReFS (which is also only just out in 2012). It's still marked as unstable, but Linux's unstable is still better than the quality of most companies' finished 'enterprise' software. Speaking from bitter experience, there...
Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
Yep we run couple hundred windows servers. They require 24x7 baby-sitting. And weekly scheduled reboots lest they run out of juice. We also run about a hundred Linux servers, which barely require any attention, with uptimes of over 800 days.
"Checksums/CRCs to guard against corruption. This is in ReFS, not NTFS. Linux has no production-level filesystem that can do this."
I'm pretty sure ext4 does this.I know for a fact btrfs does this.
In addition if you don't like Linux's ext4, which is a great FS, enterprise grade filesystems Are enterprises using ReFS now? Its new. How widespread is that? how does that really stack against ext4 for general usage. Or even JFS/XFS for database performance. Is ReFS tested? After ext4, btrfs is right around the corner. This is the filesystem of your dreams. MS has no answer.
"Logging, policies, and so on which are needed for anything bigger than the guy in his basement: Linux doesn't offer this, Windows does via GPOs. This is important come audit time, and the auditors are there."
pretty sure linux has that too.
"Please name me a feature that Linux has that Windows doesn't that is useful on the enterprise level."
1. runs on archecture other than x86, namely IBM's z-series. you don't use mainframes in the enterprise world, no sir.
2. scales well for multiple CPUs (as in hundreds-thousands), making it the de-facto OS for super computers.
3. stable, doesn't break. developers won't make accusations at you for reporting bugs.
4. Rock Solid drivers. drivers for linux are generally rock solid, with few problems. The exception being 3 party drivers written by reverse engineering. If your running enterprise and you have factory drives, this is not an issue.
5. performance in general.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/230527/ubuntu_linux_day_16_ext4_vs_ntfs.html
" ReFS does not support data de-duplication, copy-on-write snapshots (a ZFS and Btrfs feature"
weren't you just talking about this,
slow day at work mr balmer?
I used to be proud of over 1 year uptimes until i realized 2 things:
1. you aren't patching enough
2. when the reboot happens and it turns out your initialization script for one of your servers wasn't tested thoughly enough (b/c you never rebooted) you have a big problem. having configured it 6 months ago (timeline from when I learned my lesson) and half remembering which configs are which is going to lead to more downtime. You should really reboot after major (re)configurations to make sure your server comes back into the fold effectively... obviously, this should be during a controlled maintenance window but preventative maintenance still counts as maintenance
We run operating systems for one reason: application delivery. Windows is where the industry specific applications are, so that is what the client machines run.
To administer the clients, it is a lot easier to do so with Windows servers.
Do i run windows servers facing the internet? Fuck no. They are well protected by hardware firewalls, mail, etc. comes through FreeBSD. But Windows has its uses.
I'm a big fan of heterogeneous networks. Use the most appropriate platform for the service you are attempting to deliver. Any mainstream OS these days can be secured "well enough" with minimal effort if you know shit from clay.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.