jvlgato

Let Us Choose XP For All Machines!

Operating Systems, Sales Strategies submitted by shamarkaleo 07/26/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

Dear Dell Service Team,

After unsuccessful appeals to several levels of your support staff, I am writing to convey one last appeal regarding operating systems and purchasing options on your site.

I am the CEO of a small web and graphic design business. We decided to purchase a laptop for our staff use on trips, and after studying all our options, chose Dell as our computer supplier.

We were dismayed to find that most of the computer systems at Dell came pre-installed with Windows Vista, with only a few computers offering a choice of operating systems. Our computer of choice did not offer a selection.

I find this mindboggling, since Dell as a company won't use Vista on its own computers until after SP1 is released. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39286949,00.htm?r=8

And CNET gives Windows vista this dismal review:

"...essentially warmed-over Windows XP. If you're currently happy with Windows XP SP2, we see no compelling reason to upgrade." http://reviews.cnet.com/windows/windows-vista-ultimate/4505-3672_7-32013603.html

What is more mindboggling to me is Dell's refusal to work with our company when we appealed for a change in our order. We wanted the specific machine we ordered, we simply didn't want Vista.

As it is, the only options we were offered were:

A.) Cancel our order- though we'd already waited weeks for the order to be fulfilled - and order a machine we don't want that offers the XP operating system choice

or

B.) Wait for our machine to arrive, then go buy XP ourselves at additional cost, reformat the hard drive, and install XP on our own.

These choices are horrible! Especially since one of your own staff told me by phone that Dell has received many, many complaints about Vista.

Neither option meets our needs. We either end up with a machine we don't want which has the right operating system, or a machine we do want that we must "fix" prior to use.

So I appeal to you to allow buyers to choose their operating system on ALL your machines, not just some. You don't have to offer a huge choice, but at least one more option than Vista!

Kelli Standish


Check out the Idea in Action to find out more about Dell offering XP.
49 Comments »

Laptop & Desktop Boot in seconds from Flash Drives

Broadband and Mobility, Desktops and Laptops submitted by reg 02/19/07

Have laptops and PCs that boot quickly & quietly from fast internal flash drives,
and run the whole OS and application programs in RAM.
The New Dell PC will boot from internal Fast USB 2.0 flash drives in just a few seconds.
The Hard drive can stay powered down, completely off, unless the user needs to store some extra large files (video, photos).

Laptop Battery life is measured in days, not hours.


Have 2 Recessed USB 2.0 Slots.
Two USB Flash Drives would fit neatly into the laptop.
In this way the whole OS and Apps run in RAM, and stores data files on an 8 GB flash drive.

The 8GB is used transparently as the 'On Line' Storage, with a hard drive acting as secondary storage.
This gives desktops and laptops much greater speed and power savings.

<font> On-Line/Near-Line Storage Model for Laptops</font>
1. OS and App all run from RAM (so the machine should have 2GB+ of RAM)
2. Modified files are worked on in RAM, and stored on the Flash Drive
3. Older (non-system) files, that are 'inactive', get pushed down to the hard drive,

Hard Drive files are stored with on-the-fly hardware compression / decompression (back to RAM), with the flash drive file replaced with a pointer to the hard drive file.
Data is always safely copied down to the hard drive on shut down.



The flash drive is removeable and upgradeable, so later if someone wants to upgrade to a 32GB flash drive, just unplug and plug in the new one.

On-line / Near-Line storage works great on very large data servers, where data is mostly write once, read infrequently.
(Also known as Write Once, Read Mostly - WORM drives.)

It's time such ideas are put into practice for desktops and laptops.


You can run your Dell Laptop TODAY from 100% Flash Drive - Pen Drive using Puppy Linux.



www.puppylinux.org delivers a complete, small, fast Linux Distribution including all major tools in under 90MB. You can add Open Office, GIMP, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc and they all fit right in a USB Flash Drive.
Pupply Linux Applications.
Download Puppy Linux so you Can Try Flash Drive Dell Notebooks Today. 21 Comments »

Make XP/Linux drivers available for all model even if only Vista is pre-installed

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Linux, Operating Systems submitted by vineets001 09/24/07 **REVIEWED**

There are good hardware models coming out. And only Vista is pre-install option. If people want to wipe off Vista and install XP or Linux, let them do that. Make a commitment to have the drivers available.


We're working on having drivers for the hardware we ship more widely available. Click here to learn more from john_h.





28 Comments »

Standardize Power Cables for Laptops

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops submitted by badblood 08/27/07 **UNDER REVIEW**

Nothing is more annoying than laptop power cables that are not interchangeable from one computer model to another or from one brand of computer to another. Power cables have been standardized on most electrical applicances, including desktop computers for decades.

Make an effort to promote and implement standard power cables for laptops.


Please see dawn_l's comments below.
93 Comments »