This is a perfect example of a lack of communication. The lady in the story obviously did not know what she was ordering and failed to ask for advice. Dell obviously screwed up by not asking what she needed and judging her expertise level. They dropped the ball by not returning her computer and giving her what she needed.
As an IT Manager for ten years, I learned very quickly that not everyone has an interest in computers. A recent poster here made an excellent analogy to automobiles. Some people are passionate about them and can recite the specs of every car on the road, and some (like me) see it as a tool to perform a task. Whenever I am asked for advice on what computer to buy, the first thing I ask is "what are you going to do with it?"
I think this would have been a perfect opportunity for the Linux community to step up and earn some positive PR. Rather than attacking everyone from Dell, the news reporter, the young lady who just wanted a computer, to each other; the Linux community could have stepped up and offered to help the lady convert to Linux. Why not offer to setup her Verizon card? Show her how to use OpenOffice! Make her a Linux proponent. Just think of the follow-up story!
I have been using Linux since Linus Torvalds first version. So I have been using it longer than some of the posters here have been alive!:-) Linux has come a long way. Even the adoption among our IT staff is slow - but it is occuring. The way to convert the masses is not to burn them at the stake for not understanding. It is to step up, show them how their computing experience can be better, and hold their hands!
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This is a perfect example of a lack of communication. The lady in the story obviously did not know what she was ordering and failed to ask for advice. Dell obviously screwed up by not asking what she needed and judging her expertise level. They dropped the ball by not returning her computer and giving her what she needed.
As an IT Manager for ten years, I learned very quickly that not everyone has an interest in computers. A recent poster here made an excellent analogy to automobiles. Some people are passionate about them and can recite the specs of every car on the road, and some (like me) see it as a tool to perform a task. Whenever I am asked for advice on what computer to buy, the first thing I ask is "what are you going to do with it?"
I think this would have been a perfect opportunity for the Linux community to step up and earn some positive PR. Rather than attacking everyone from Dell, the news reporter, the young lady who just wanted a computer, to each other; the Linux community could have stepped up and offered to help the lady convert to Linux. Why not offer to setup her Verizon card? Show her how to use OpenOffice! Make her a Linux proponent. Just think of the follow-up story!
I have been using Linux since Linus Torvalds first version. So I have been using it longer than some of the posters here have been alive! :-) Linux has come a long way. Even the adoption among our IT staff is slow - but it is occuring. The way to convert the masses is not to burn them at the stake for not understanding. It is to step up, show them how their computing experience can be better, and hold their hands!