Posted on 08/10/2002 10:30:07 AM PDT by HAL9000
Dell No Longer Selling Systems w/o Microsoft OS
Posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday August 10, @01:17PM
from the yer-bringing-me-down-man dept.Some Sys Admin sent in an email that he got from Dell which basically says Microsoft will no longer allow Dell to sell PCs without an operating system. Please note that Microsoft is not a monopoly, and does not use their monopoly power to squish competition in the market place. The message itself is attached below, and is worth a read, especially the last bit.
UPDATES1. Effective 8/26 - New Microsoft contract rules stipulate that we can no longer offer the "NO OS" option to our customers beyond September 1st. As such all customers currently purchasing a "NO OS" option on either OptiPlex, Precison or Latitude for the express purpose of loading a non-MS OS will have the following options:
1. Purchase a Microsoft OS with each OptiPlex, Precision or Latitude system.
2. For OptiPlex and Precision - purchase one of the new "nSeries" products (offered for GX260, WS340 & WS530 - details in the attached FAQ) that are being created to address a different OS support requirement other than a current standard Microsoft OS.
We must have all "No OS" orders shipped out of the factory by September 1st. The "No OS" legend code and SKUs will be I-coded on 8/19 and D-coded on August 26th to ensure shipment of orders prior to September 1st. FYI - this effects all of our competitors as well.
I recommend Alienware or Falcon Northwest.
--Boris
Why don't the OEMs get together and tell Microsoft to get stuffed?
I thought Dell did a good job apologizing for that incident and going the extra mile to try and make ammends for it.
That particular incident was a bureaucratic screwup, which Dell offered to make good. If it was an isolated incident, I wouldn't hold it against Dell, which has been very good to me, as far as support goes.
Or at least, Dell support was very good until they farmed out ALL their phone support to India. I guess it's that "no American wants to do this job" thing.
Aside from the aggravation of a time lag as the call goes up and down the sattelite link, their techs have only a FAIR grasp of English. They are also lacking in any real PC troubleshooting skills. They follow a written script, and demand you follow it, too.
I recently spent three hours determining that a Dell desktop couldn't see the CD drive, and could not install the proper drivers for the hard drive, either. That told me it was bade IDE electronics on the motherboard. We have over 5000 Dells where I work, so I know a thing or two about them.
I spent an agonizing hour on the phone the first time, only to have a new CD drive sent to me that did not fix the problem. The tech in India would not give me one minute to explain my reasoning to him. I suspect it would have gone over his head, anyway.
The next call to India was TWO hours long. After making me connect and disconnect stuff (and insisting I put the phone next to the computer so they could hear me working), they ran out of excuses, and ordered me a new motherboard, which arrived the next day, and fixed the problem.
I don't know how much money Dell thinks they saved by wasting three hours of my time and the tech's time, but it can't be trivial, even for India. When they had American techs, I could at least make small talk with them, which made things go easier. There wasn't enough common culturally between me and the Indian techs to even attempt that. And their technical level was inadequate.
Dealing with Dell's American tech support was never fun, but at least it went smoothly, and reasonably quickly. I didn't have to dread calling.
Now the aggravation level goes sky-high in dealing with their Indian techs. And all because "no American wants to do that job". At least not for $1.25 per hour, which is what techs make in India. I've always liked Dell hardware, at least in their business models. The home systems are a different matter. But I will be very reluctant to spend another dime with Dell after they've cheapened their support.
Smart move.
But the point is these people do not want to buy Windows just to wipe it clean. They would prefer a Dell with out paying for Windows. I think Dell should stand up to Microsoft but if not there are pleanty of other box assemblers, I mean "manufactures".
This could be a hoax or a troll.
Let's try it again:
FYI - this AFFECTS all of our competitors as well.
It's not even hard to do. In fact, if the average consumer ever figured out how simple it was, Dell would go under within a week.
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