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I had anticipated this, but Dell threw in a twist. They realized that customers were pissed and responded. The twist is that they divided customers into 2 groups, the companys(large profit) and the average joe(low profit).

Sorry, to burst your bubble, but this isn't something new, or exclusive to Dell...

There are important reasons for doing this. First off, designing different computers for home and business users: Dell has the Optiplex and Dimension lines of desktop PCs, and the Latitude and Inspiron laptops. The reason for business vs home lines is that the business computers tend to be far more conservative, as far as updates of hardware and drivers go. Business users who might buy thousands of computers a year want to know that the computers that they buy today will have the same configuration and use the exact same software drivers that the computers they buy in 6 months. For many years, Compaq, HP, and IBM have all done the same thing... For Compaq, there were the DeskPros for business (and Prosignias for small business), and Presarios for home use. HP and IBM also had one line for business use, and another line. Warranty and support were always handled by different divisions too. There's an important reason for this as well. Think about it. Typical home users don't have much by was of computer experience. On the other hand, corporate users will typically have their own support staff who will have diagnosed the problem in advance, and if they're calling for support, there's something really wrong, and you've got to have more advanced tech support people available.

Dell can go to hell,they couldnt make it clearer that they think the average customer should!

This article isn't talking about anything new. The company I work for sells and services (some) Dells for our clients. We're not authorized to do warranty work except for a few clients, due to Dell's contractual obligations to some national service providers, and those clients pay Dell an annual fee to allow us to do their service. More than a year ago, I knew if I was going to one of those corporate clients, if I had to contact Dell support, I knew that I'd be talking to someone in Texas. If I had to call for Dell support for anyone else (including my own laptop!), I'd be talking to someone in India.

I happen to like Dell. They make a good, reliable computer.

We're not authorized to do warranty work except for a few clients, due to Dell's contractual obligations to some national service providers, and those clients pay Dell an annual fee to allow us to do their service.

Are there any restrictions that prevent an independant service/support provider from picking up support on a new Dell computer (for which the buyer declined support from Dell), or an older Dell system for which the support contract has expired?

If none, is such independent support technically feasible and cost/benefit practical?