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Make your legal team restrain themselves when they're trying to silence bloggers who are trying to help people buy from Dell.

Dell, Dell Community submitted by jmxz 06/15/07 **IMPLEMENTED**

Yesterday Dell sent the following letter to a blog that was giving advice on how to better order from the confusing Dell web site (like clarifying pros and cons of when you should go to the Small Business vs Home Office sections; and when you might do even better going to a Dell Kiosk- which Dell's own web site never makes clear). Rather than a take down notice from Legal, a polite email from Marketing with corrections to the inaccurate parts and specific requests to remove the confidential information would have been:

Better for the Blogger - because he wouldn't feel threatened.
Better for Dell - because the article never would have been so widely publicized (I learned of it only because of the takedown notice).
Better for Dell Customers - because the rest of the non-confidential information in the article could still help them.

- - - - - - - - - -
from Tracy Holland
to ben@consumerist.com
date Jun 14, 2007 4:39 PM
subject Posting by former Dell employee

Dear Ben,

Please remove the posting located at the following

http://consumerist.com/consumer/insiders/22-confessions-of-a-former-dell-sale...< contains information that is confidential and proprietary to Dell.

While not all aspects of the entry are accurate, ostensibly an ex-employee posted Dell's confidential information in violation of his or her employment agreement and confidentiality obligations (which prohibit the disclosure of such information both during and after the period of employment).

We would appreciate your prompt attention to this matter. Please confirm that the posting has been removed by the end of the day tomorrow.

Thank you, and please give me a call if you would like to discuss further.

Tracy Holland

Tracy J. Holland
Counsel
Dell Inc.
- - - - - - - - - -

While some of the information wasn't correct; the blogger has been continually updating the article fixing inaccuracies as they're pointed out to him. Your legal team also referred to "confidential information" but never specified what was the offending confidential information that should be removed. It's a bit hard to guess what parts of that posting might have been considered confidential; because it seems like just about all the info in the article can be found (just with difficulty) browsing the Dell web site and Kiosks.

Ideas for your legal team:
* For the case of this article - point out the "confidential" information (if there really is any) and I'm confident the blogger will remove that confidential information while keeping the rest of the helpful advice (which helps your customers buy Dells) up there.
* In general - try to restrain yourselves from legal threats on Bloggers. It would probably have been nicer if someone from Dell Marketing asked the person to correct things; and the whole thing would have probably gone away quietly -- instead of being very visible on many high profile places on the internet and on mailing lists now.
We hold ourselves at Dell and all our employees to high ethical standards and believe ex-employees have an obligation to uphold those standards. We live and learn in this new world of blogs and appreciate your suggestion.


32 Comments »

ZERO Noise Water Cooling Laptops

Environment, New Product Ideas submitted by ruvenss 05/28/07

Make a cooling system with less decibels than any other Laptop on the market. Use cooling materials, as an option, so customers can choose to pay more for a non noisy laptop.

A cooling system for every part of the laptop, even sharing the weight of the components on the screen side,. imagine a flat battery on the whole LCD screen back, now with that free space on the chassis you can split the harware components so they can breath better, also include a flat gel cooling system, to improve performance, battery life, and reduce the noise as much as possible. 20 Comments »

Environmental responsibility of Dell

Environment submitted by dhari 05/19/07

If you print a single invoice of Dell, it will take 3 pages. Can the unnecessary details and sales terms be printed on the reverse or on weblink? Environmental responsibility of Dell should not be over with printing ISO 14001 on the paper. 1 Comment »

"Trade In" Program

Advertising and Marketing, Environment, Sales Strategies submitted by john_saddington 02/19/07

I'd love to see a "Trade In" Program and/or initiative, where a customer who's been a long time customer could trade in an old system for a new one, or at least, a good sized discount.

I've got an old laptop and seriously need a new one. It's been out of warranty for a long time, but, would love to get a discount for a new one if I could trade it in.

This would also be environmentally healthy! 34 Comments »

out of the box -- let me return box for reuse

Environment submitted by howardnyc 02/17/07

issue: reduce -- reuse -- recycle

if you build the shipping box a little thicker, and provide a return address sticker many of us would be happy to return the box to you for reuse....

despite the added shipping charges, you would save money and demonstrate to the world you are indeed "lean 'n green" by reversing the ‘waste stream’

this would be especially true for those corporations purchasing ten (10) or fifty (50) or thousands (1000’s) of new computers all at the same time. . .

heck I could see an entire truckload of stuff getting picked up three days after being dropped off . . .

FYI: corporations in New York City are oft times zapped with special handling fees to dispose of boxes 16 Comments »

Apply an Energy Star Rating System to your Products

Environment submitted by badblood 05/18/07

Everyone has a role to play in protecting the environment. Choosing an energy efficient appliance is one way to do this while saving money. Apply a star rating for all your products, which rates their energy consumption and ability to be recycled.



9 Comments »

Environmental Laptop Based on Solar Energy/Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Environment, Laptop Power submitted by gchakra 02/17/07 **UNDER REVIEW**

What's smart for the environment is smart for Dell. Dell should build units that are degradable or can be easily recycled. Sure, its going to be a little more expensive, but it will be a smart product. It will use a lot less energy. The laptops could have a solar panel or be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The first microelectronic implementation of a fuel cell will give Dell a tremendous marketing boost. It will be incredibly popular with kids in college.
Gopal







134 Comments »

Recycle & refurbish old Dell PCs back to Dell for 10% discount

Environment submitted by reg 05/18/07

Recycle your old Dell back to Dell for a 10% discount on new equipment. Dell can then secure overwrite erase the hard drive, install Ubuntu + hardware drivers, then donate the hardware to unemployment, food stamp, and welfare offices Nationwide. The social services offices then can pass out the refurbished used equipment to its clients, and Dell can be given BIG tax breaks by the State and Federal Systems.



1. Recycle - Turn it in, don't landfill it.
2. Reuse - There is still life left in that old hardware
3. Reduce - Buy new electronics less often, get 5 years use out of every PC.
4. Refuse - wasteful spending, wasteful practices & wasteful companies.
5. Refute - Once wasteful practices or procedures are identified, correct the problem with Action! 58 Comments »

Dell / Target for retail

Sales Strategies submitted by dvd 02/23/07

If you're going to hook up w/a retail partner, Target would be the best choice - they don't have computers (yet), as WalMart does, and are growing fast, yet still keeping true to their vision. Comment »

Retail Availability

Sales Strategies submitted by ghdowns 03/06/07

Start making your PC's available in the retail channels, such as Best Buy or Circuit City. I know this doesn't sit well with Dell's business model, but keep inventories LOW. In other words, as a sys admin the time comes when I need a PC yesterday. Although through the business channel I can get a PC or laptop delivered to me in a couple of days, things happen that I need it now.

Yes, I know that Dell prides itself on direct to consumer marketing, but when pressed with heading to Best Buy to get another laptop for that VP that spilled coffee all over it, or when your college student son cremates a PC and needs one NOW, it would be nice to stroll into Best Buy and not get an Emachines or HP and get a machine that they are familiar with and can trust.

Just don't keep the high end boxes or such at the retail outlets. They will sell. When comparing quality of Dell products versus those from HP or Toshiba, most will go with Dell. 3 Comments »

New Dell Retail Store! Death to Mall Kiosks!

Advertising and Marketing, Sales Strategies submitted by evilspell 02/16/07

Dell should open a retail store very similar to the Apple store. I know that they have small kiosks inside malls that they try to sell Plasma TV's and a couple laptops next to a guy selling knock off sunglasses and verizon cell phone sales sharks! Very unprofessional. Open a classy Dell Store and offer Tech support right in the store just like the Genius Bar in the Apple Store. 144 Comments »

Geeks to Grandmas - Service Customization

Service and Support submitted by dell_admin1 05/18/07

Dell wants your feedback on the following idea intended to improve customer service and support:

We're considering providing customers the ability to self-select their service queue based on their own technical capability, such as "Advanced Computer Knowledge," "Intermediate," or "Beginner," further customizing the support experience.

UPDATE (May 18 at 8pm Central):
A number of people are asking for more information about this idea so they can comment. However, this idea is not a defined “offer” at this point, so many details have not yet been determined. That’s why we want your feedback! Others have asked if this idea would cost extra or not… in this case, that has not yet been determined and we’re hoping to use your comments to help define the answer. 82 Comments »

Make more M2010 options

XPS products submitted by masterofhisdomain 05/01/07

With such a neat design as the M2010 has, you should also target the gaming market with it.

I would like to see add these options:

highest end video card.
dual video cards.
XP or No OS option. 2 Comments »

Web based storage

Servers and Storage submitted by tjongbloed 05/01/07

It would be nice if some vendor offered a web based storage solution that school districts could offer to staff and students. A web based drop box, hosted on district hardware, and designed so that students and teachers could access their files anytime, any place. I have exhange mailboxes, I have networked drives, I have an MD1000 with 5T of storage, but no way to share those files to computers outside our network. A WebDav type solution linked to Active Directory would be a killer app for school districts. Right now the only solutions are hosted solutions that are very proprietary and very expensive to purchase. My staff can get to my email and gradebook from home but can't get to my work files (and Sharepoint is an awkward solution, very complex and not really designed for this type of shared documents). 1 Comment »

Now You Choose - Concept 2

Gaming, XPS products submitted by dell_admin1 04/25/07 **IMPLEMENTED**

Participate in the product design process! Dell is using IdeaStorm to decide between two new product design concepts. Vote on your favorite and weigh in to tell us what you think.

When we unveiled the XPS 710 H2C at CES this year, we also uncovered it. There were a limited number of systems sprinkled throughout the show floor that had a clear side panel allowing easy viewing of the patent-pending two-stage H2C liquid cooling system.

Since then, more than a few people have suggested we offer a “panel with a view” as an option for our XPS 710 line. Now we need you to vote for one of these two options and, most importantly, share some reasons why you like it.

This “Now You Decide” vote campaign will be open from Wednesday, April 25 to Friday, May 11. The design that gets the most votes will be featured in a future generation of XPS gaming desktops.

Check out the latest Idea in Action on the new XPS 730.




108 Comments »

HP lets me choose which Vista Sticker (or none!!!) they glue on their laptops. Dell, let us choose none too.

Sales Strategies submitted by jmxz 04/16/07

HP gives me the helpful option of letting me choose not to deface my laptop with a Vista sticker.
It also apparently saves me the $1 cost of the sticker.

VISTA label

- Microsoft® Vista Ready Label cannot be configured with Free DOS Operating System.
Please remove this label from your configuration. [3154]
- The Windows Vista™ Basic logo is not compatible with the 2 DIMM memory modules. [3769]

. No Item Selected <flash>[Subtract $1.00]</flash>
. Microsoft® Vista Ready Label [Subtract $1.00]
. Genuine Windows Vista™ Basic Logo
. Genuine Windows Vista™ Logo [Subtract $1.00]

Yes, they also give me the option of not getting Vista at all on that page (saving $75) but I think that's been pointed out in other ideas on ideastorm before.

Dell: Please give us the option not to get a sticker - and, like HP, to make the systems without a Vista Basic Logo cheaper than ones with the ugly sticker.
12 Comments »

Update Ideas in Action on at least weekly basis.

IdeaStorm submitted by mrlinux11 04/11/07

Ideas in Action has not been updated in more than 2 weeks, maybe we could a regular update (even if it sez nothing new this week) . 13 Comments »

Faster Ordering

Dell Web Site, Service and Support submitted by jgm104 04/11/07

A friend of mine recently received an email promoting a great deal on laptops and desktops. However, when he went to place his order, he had to click through 40+ different addons for his machine. I can see why this might be a valuable feature for some who want to make sure they get through every possible option for their machine, but there are some of us out there who like to tinker and just want to click and go and move on. Can you add another option to your ordering pages that allows for super fast barebones checkout? 2 Comments »

Stripped down, fast Linux Box

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops, Linux submitted by pawprintz 02/17/07 **REVIEWED**

How about a fast, Internet ready Linux desktop. Small form factor, pretty monitor, mouse & keyboard, the O.S., OpenOffice & Firefox. Cheap'n'fast


Dell sees the value of this idea, and is keeping the sugestions for a Linux small form factor on the radar. john_h will let the community know of any new information as it comes.




130 Comments »

Have Firefox pre-installed as default browser

Software submitted by robinjfisher 02/19/07 **REVIEWED**

Does what it says on the tin! Most people only use IE because they aren't aware of other browsers - they think Internet Explorer is the Internet! What would really drive take up of alternative browsers is if Firefox was pre-installed as the default browser so that when people look for the "Internet" in Windows, they are using FF.
Firefox advocates at Dell have initiated discussions and driven action around exploring alternative internet browsers and experiences. As you can tell from our response to the Linux community, open source continues to be a part of our conversations about new products and services.





1195 Comments »