emachines in Big Trouble?

It looks like emachines has trouble coming from many sides. This story at News.com makes it sound like things are so bad that the company's upper management ought to commit hari-kari. This is sad; I bought one of their early units for my wife and, even if it's not the world's greatest PC, it was a good value for the money. I'd hate to see this fine low-cost vendor go away. We need companies like this to keep the "biggies" on their toes. (Thanks go to NetSlave Steve Gilliard for this lead.)

Comments

Re:The iMac Look

[cpt kangarooski]

The iMac is a good computer for what it is: an entry level Mac. Anyone who thinks that it's comparable to the latest greatest PIII or G4 or whatever is just being stupid.

OTOH, I have a Mac and I think that the iMouse is the best thing since spam in a can. Much more comfortable than any other mouse I've ever used. I'd prefer it had five buttons, but you can't have everything. The point is that preference in mice, keyboards and monitors - the I/O that connects you to the computer - are a personal matter. Don't like the iMouse, get a different mouse. USB mice are usually pretty cheap. Lord knows I trashed the iKeyboard in favor of my reliable ol' Nimitz.

Regarding the memo you describe... I used to sell Macs and while I realize that price protection is mostly a thing of the past, it's better to preserve an excellent relationship with a customer than it is to clear merchandise and make a quick buck. You should ignore that kind of thing and even tell your customers to go elsewhere if they'll save money. Do freebie work for them (if it's not serious, like adding RAM). It's a lousy idea to run a business based solely on money.

Spelling of Japanese

[Chilli]

Just for the record, it is harakiri. Hara means stomach and kiri is the stem of the verb kiru, to cut.

The interesting thing is that when you swap the two Chinese characters used to write harakiri in the Japanese script, they are not pronounced kirihara, but seppuku and, amazingly, still mean the same. However, if I recall correctly, the latter is a more elegant way of expressing the act.

Chilli

PS: A little education is never off topic ;-)

ISP Rebates

[daviddennis]

I'm a little confused about the math behind the ISP rebate offers.

$20/month x 36 months (3 years) is $ 720. $ 720 - $400 = 320, or $ 8.88 per month. Interest on paying off the $ 400 rebate @ 10% should add about $60 to the cost (average $200 balance @ 10% interest over 36 months). So they are actually getting less than $ 8/month for the service.

How could any ISP afford to offer such a deal? It sounds suicidal to me.

D

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What flaky little machines!

[rabidMacBigot()]

I only wish I could speak of them in the past tense already. I work tech support for a large Midwest-US ISP, and I can tell you, I nearly get physically sick when I hear the customer has an eMachine (one of my co-workers compared it to Alex from A Clockwork Orange...). The HSP Micromodem they come with are vile... who let this thing out of development? A softmodem that consumes 30% of processor time is inexcusable, but you'd think that they'd at least make sure it could connect to other modems! Was that just not in the spec or something?!

I'm not at all sure that the eMachines people created the HSP, but the only computers I've seen them on are eMachines... and some of the only computers we have problems getting connected. You paid $300 for a computer... don't act like it's my fault that the modem won't connect past v34!

The iMac Look

[SlaterSan]

Everyone complains that the e machines looked so much like the iMac.. well no one seems to complain that their sony TV looks a hell of alot like a Toshiba or anything else. Apple didn't invent colored plastic, why should they be the only ones that get to use it?

It's too bad they might go out of business

[Komodo33]

I really like eMachines well as a matter of fact I love them and their ilk. As a PC Tech if it wasn't for crappy cheap computers like them and all the cheap parts. I might be out of a job so hang in there eMachines I'm rooting for you to stay in business. Because I need the work.

Its just CNet Propaganda, so who cares?

[torpor]

I mean, come on, give me a break.

Since when has CNet been anything other than a seething cesspool of bias, anything more than a classic covert market slant operation? Since when does CNet give a damn about anything other than their advertisers interests?

Anyone who's paid any sort of attention to CNet News since its early days has (unless they're lobotomized) witnessed it turn from a somewhat cool Gen-X type news source, into an Intel-and-Microsoft-corporate-interests-are-God source of juicy net propaganda.

CNet is a tabloid at best.

You'll be hard pressed to find *any* articles in there that paint any sort of negative view towards Microsoft along the lines of negativity that's been painted over eMachines right now.

Even when Microsoft (or Intel, or Compaq, or any of the other advertisers on the CNet network) *do* screw up, CNet 'News' somehow manages to paint a "well, they've got it under control now, nothing to be worried about, move along folks" picture. That's because the people who pay for CNet, the marketing 'geniuses' who hold the reigns and who get paid lots of money to be propaganda wizards, know all too well that the Best Kind of Bad News is Old Bad News (i.e. It Was Bad, But We Fixed It and We're Strong Now- TM). That's all you'll get if the subject is Microsoft or Intel.

But if it's some other up-start company, forget it. It'll be bad forcasts, questionable-futures, uncertain perspectives, drama, reaction, excitement. ("Hey look kids, there's a car accident, is anyone dead?")

Tabloid marketing mechanics are very well known at CNet, and I'm willing to wager that most of their editors made a living in that market before they got a whiff of this Internet thing...

CNet News is like Slashdot for Microsoft and Intel. It serves its purpose for its paying members.

And in this case, they're clearly doing their best to dreg up the dirt on eMachines, and capitalizing on the general tabloidical nature of the Internet to propagate the bad news.

So, I say, so damned what. eMachines was a *good* company, with a damned good idea - make PC's affordable to Everyone, not just those elite middle-class crackerjack few who have a grand of expendable income to blow on what usually amounts to nothing more than an expensive toy (for the average family).

So eMachines is having a rough time of it.

Fine.

I for one hope that they pull out of it, and get whatever legal issues resolved that need to be resolved, so they can KEEP SELLING INEXPENSIVE COMPUTERS TO EVERYONE.

In the meantime, Compaq, Dell, and Microsoft can kiss my ass. I'm putting CNet's domains in my filter, because there's nothing but covert propaganda coming from those guys these days, and they know it.


(And before you rightwing fruits draw the Hyopcrisy Card and start saying that the same is true about Slashdot, I'd like to point out a *huge* difference: these conversations. Try posting something like this message on CNet's forums, see how long it takes for it to mysteriously disappear)

Defending eMachines

[SEE]

First, the Japanese injunction isn't nearly as important as the article makes out. First, it's a preliminary injunction -- all Apple had to show is a prima fascie case and a significant possibility of irreperable damages.

Second, this is a summary and interpretation of an analyst's report, which itself is a summary and interpretation of available data. In the absence of hard facts, what does "While the company has sold over a million units since its inception last November, it has not even remotely created a business model that is sustainable," mean?

As a disclosure, I have an eMachine which I am very happy with. I didn't bother with the "internet service" rebate, and got a etower 366i2, 15" monitor, and Lexmark Z11 printer for an after-rebates-and-tax grand total of ~$550. Toss in a $100 external modem (I prefer external anyway), and I got a decent system for less than you'd pay for a comparable Compaq. And the eMachine has 4 mb SGRAM video instead of UMA SDRAM sharing like the Compaq. Still using my home-built for Linux, though...

Re:The correct word is "hara kiri", btw.

[GoRK]

The word Harakiri translates roughly as "gut cutting." It is a rougher term for "seppuku" which is the formal ritual suicide practiced in feudal Japan. Seppuku is usually performed because one disgraces himself, his family, or his people. Properly enacted, seppuku requires two people. The person enacting the suicide is to cut himself (females did not practice this) side to side across his stomach and then up to the base of his breastbone. His "second" then was to remove the man's head. Often, the second followed suit with his own suicide. The most interesting thing about the whole ordeal was that one was not to make a noise or show any pain while slicing himself up. If he did either of these, he failed the ritual and disgraced himself again in death.

Now please don't you clickey moderators go moderating this down as 'offtopic' It's on topic with this thread. Your karma will regret it!

~GoRK

The correct word is "hara kiri", btw.

[Wakko Warner]

Unless you're suggesting they commit dead Cubs announcers? :)

- A.P. (perhaps to CVS?)
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