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A Line of Linux Only Computers for Old People

Linux, Desktops and Laptops submitted by aoeui 02/17/07

The main advantage of Windows over Linux is it's running of certain third party applications such as games, none of which as a general principle old people actually have a use for. The advantage of Linux over Windows is it's stability, security, and cheapness, all of which old people love in a computer. Thus, selling said old people a line of computers with the Linux OS only makes sense. 15 Comments »

Should Apple licence OS X to Dell? | Bigmouth Strikes Again - Freelance journalist Gary Marshall on technology, the Internet, music, Macs and more

Operating Systems submitted by pwalker 01/30/07

There was an interesting op-ed by Doug Mohney in The Inquirer yesterday, which suggested that the launch of Vista provides a good opportunity for Apple - if it licences OS X to Dell.

However, Vista is being beaten like a dead horse by the mass media – most of them already are enthralled to the God of Jobs if you read between the lines, so Microsoft could make nuclear fusion work tomorrow and they’d give it a lukewarm review at best. The consensus view out of the babbling punditry is “Don’t buy Vista today, unless you have to buy a new computer tomorrow.”

On that front, I think the babbling pundits are right. Heh.

So what about Apple?

If Apple was serious, and I mean really serious, about gaining more PC market share, they’d realize they need to license/sell their operating system to another hardware manufacturer or two. Sure, Apple’s tried the license route before with mixed results, but it’s about time to bite the bullet, look into the mirror, and realize they should try something bold.

Apple should license their operating system to Dell.

Mohney isn’t suggesting that Apple should make OS X available to any PC user; the dangers of that (such as hardware incompatibilities or really crap machines ruining Apple’s reputation) have been talked to death for years. Rather, he’s suggesting that Apple could team up with a single PC manufacturing firm to make decent clones, expanding OS X’s market share without diluting the core Apple brand. It wouldn’t be an Apple Mac: it’d be a Dell Mac. Dell’s good at churning out PCs, so if Apple laid down strict criteria about what should and shouldn’t go into a clone you could get decent non-Apple Macs competing in different markets to Apple Macs. Does anyone really think Dell is capable of making something as sexy as a MacBook or as iconic as the iMac?

I’m sure Mohney will be inundated with angry emails, but I do wonder how many of the senders will have reacted similarly to suggestions a few years back that Macs should run Intel chips. I think his idea’s fascinating. 48 Comments »

Fed up with Microsoft

Operating Systems, Laptops submitted by triangle 02/19/07

Each week I receive in my mailbox promotionnal offers from Dell.
Our company have only needs in laptops but we never bought a Dell because were are SMB company needing no-OS pre-installed because we run NOVELL-SuSe.

So the day each people could buy a laptop "nacked" I will change my opinion and have a look on Dell products for office and for personal home use.

My proposal is to deliver pre-installed Windows if it cost something to Dell more to nack computers and simply disagree with the EULA. Dell have no need to provides activation codes and the consumer will be happy to have the choice.

When you read Wall Street journal you can see that Microsoft course decrease since they published security updates for the most secure OS of the planet. Not very credible...we prefer running Gnu/Linux that is really more secure because they are no needs to buy additional stuffs like antivirus, antispyware, firewall...and office suite :
all come inside.

It is very curious that a world leader in computing does not see the needs of his customers : now you have to think in many ways : Microsoft, Linux and why not tomorrow Macos on regular PCs (the install protection was already hacked).

In other way it is incredible that Vista could be sold with DRM inside, reducing video quality when not drmized and many other tricks allowing the computer to do what it wants and not what wanted by his owner....simply crazy. 1 Comment »

6 major issues to be fixed by Dell

Dell, Sales Strategies, Service and Support submitted by jervis961 02/17/07

Dell became a top company by providing choice and customer service to a customer that wasn't available at the time but has since fallen behind the pack in these areas. Needing a translator when calling customer support is unnacceptable and other companies are rapidly passing Dell in technology advancements. While this site is a good start, many things need to be changed for Dell to become the market leader again.

1. Customer support needs to be in well spoken English and with employees who are allowed to do more than just read from a script. If they are speaking with a computer savvy customer the rep should be allowed to deviate from the script as long as they don't go outside the relm of normal policy.

2. Better options: Other companies offer high end components in small computers but Dell only supplies intel video processors in its 14" laptop. Dell needs to allow customers to get the size computer they need but with options from low cost through the high end so they can get a computer that is "Purely you".

3. Less forced options: I hate that I am paying for and XPS with internet security when I don't need it because I already have a subsciption that will transfer over or AOL is installed when I know I don't need it. They need to add an option of none of the above to all the added software sections.

4. Better pricing: Why is it over $200 to upgrade from 1 GB of 533 MHZ ram to 2 GB of 677 MHZ RAM? I can go to Crucial.com and get the 2GB 677MHZ kit for under $200. Upgrading with Dell after you own is even worse at over $300 this is crazy.

5. Custom Dell website: Customers want to feel special why not make a MYDELL website that when you log in you get a site designed the way you want it. If you aren't interested in the small business site it gets removed, you don't like to go thru the accessories sections when customizing a system so you don't see that section. Click on customer support and a list of your computer pops up asking which one you need help with and only shows the options for that system.

6. Customer loyalty rewards: I have bought 6 Dell systems over the last few years, why can't I get better customer service or pricing due to my loyalty to the company? 78 Comments »

Provide Notebook Battery Runtimes (for each configuration!)

Laptop Power submitted by pchris 02/17/07

Please provide measured/benchmarked battery runtimes for your notebooks for all available configurations. Use a conservative realistic benchmark, PCMag.com for example, has used "MobileMark 2005 Battery Score" in it's notebook reviews. I know this is a lot of work to do, considering the multiple possible configurations, but Dell may be able to work with a reviewing company like PCMag.com, or an independent lab, or as a last resort, it may benchmark/measure a good number of common configurations.

The benchmarked battery runtime could be updated along with the price as the customer modifies his configuration.

I can not make a notebook purchase before I have this critical battery runtime, which is why I have to delay all notebook purchases until I've read a number of 3rd party reviews that provide this information, although for a very limited number of configurations, that may not be similar to what I'm looking for.

No computer vendor that I know of provides this information right now, and it is vital information for the customer to decide whether to purchase an extra large battery or not, and whether or not to purchase the notebook at all. Dell should not be afraid to provide the customer with vital information like this, but instead should engineer the products as well as possible so Dell is not ashamed of the battery performance, and is not concerned that the customer will go elsewhere (alternatively, Dell can provide a variety of battery options that will cover all possible customer needs). 2 Comments »

Lighter laptops - some suggestions

Laptops submitted by amri64 02/17/07

Would like to see more laptops below 2kg (4.4lbs).

Suggestions:

1. Replace Hard Disk with solid state storage device. Advantage: 1) lighter 2)no moving parts means less probability of breaking down (esp due to wear & tear)

2. External DVD drives. On the road, most things needed are already in the laptop. Leave the movie-watching & software-installing to the home/office/hotel room. The DVD drive can be checked in the suitcase.

3. Option to power off graphics card, camera, etc when not used for task at hand. Prolong battery life.

4. Lithium polymer batteries? For comparable charge densities, aren't they lighter?

Challenge: Fujitsu already has a 15" notebook at 2.4kg, though specs aren't so impressive, imho. Can Dell produce one at 2kg or less, & with specs "to die for"? 21 Comments »

Internet Laptop Design Contest

Advertising and Marketing, Laptops submitted by mucho 02/16/07

In order to get direct input from Dell customers, and tie more closely with consumer trends, why not sponsor a contest over the internet to design a line of laptops for home/consumer use? This would tie into Dell's philosophy of direct relationships. So the new laptop would not only be built specifically for you, but also DESIGNED directly by Dell customers. Of course, designs would have to be reviewed by Dell engineers to be sure that they are technically feasible and can be built within cost constraints, etc... Seems like this could be a very cool way to design a new generation of home/consumer laptops thru collaboration directly with Dell customers. 9 Comments »

a linux laptop

Linux, Laptops submitted by chrisrose.chrisrose 02/20/07

Boy, I sure would like to see a laptop shipped with linux. 13 Comments »

Ditch the Home/Small Business/Enterprise trichotomy

Sales Strategies, Small Business, Laptops submitted by majid 02/17/07

What products I am interested in do not correlate with myself or my company size. It used to be that high-end thin-and-light laptops would not be available in the Home segment, only the Enterprise segment. I'm sorry, just because I am a small-business owner or a home user does not mean I am ready to settle for inferior options deemed "good enough" by the powers that be.

This whole notion of three segments is a relic of a company-centric rather than customer centric marketing culture. 9 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 »

Don't describe Windows as an "Upgrade"

Linux, Operating Systems, Sales Strategies submitted by stevefraser 02/19/07

If Linux is offered as the Operating System (As has been suggested many times on this site), don't describe an offer to purchase Windows as an "Upgrade", for example "Upgrade to Microsoft Windows for only $$$", Some other phrase should be used instead, such as "Add in Microsoft Windows for $$$", as the word Upgrade may give the impression that Windows is superior to Linux, and there are several people who would disagree with that statement. 8 Comments »

Pre-Installed Linux on Desktops and Laptops and offer AMD

Linux, Desktops and Laptops submitted by nukem 02/20/07

Dell I hope you're beginning to see the picture of why HP is kicking your [profanity removed by moderator]. You need to ask your customers what they want, don't assume.. It sounds like they want an alternative to Windows! Dahhh..

If you want to be number one offer the three top Linux Version pre-installed on you systems. You just might move back to the top.. Oh and while you're about it install AMD and do yourself a favor.. They may no longer be the top dog, but some of us want an alternative to Intel..

Nukem 5 Comments »

Let us choose the OS!

Linux, Sales Strategies, Laptops submitted by icicle 02/20/07

Sometimes I check out the new prices of DELL-Notebooks. In the section OS Selection there is only one opportunity: Windows Vista.

YOU CAN NOT DO THIS!!!

At the moment there is nothing to choose. I choose Linux (Ubuntu)!
So please, please add Linux. I will not buy a notebook and pay extra money for something I will never need. I already found a reseller offering Ubuntu-laptops... 3 Comments »

More OS choices

Dell Web Site, Operating Systems submitted by yop 02/19/07

I would like to see more choices of OS like... No OS, Linux, Windows.
Also Better Linux driver support, but better Linux support in general.

Make the fan on laptops make less noise please.
Also more choices of software like Firefox, OpenOffice, Thunderbird etc,etc.

Don't like to be forced to buy an OS that I'm not going to use, like MS Windows.
Don't see the point of wasting money of stuff that I never going to use, since I always install Linux based system like Debian, Ubuntu and soo. 4 Comments »

Set up an independent business unit for GNU/Linux systems

Dell, Linux submitted by glynmoody 03/02/07

Clearly, there is a huge pent-up demand for pre-installed GNU/Linux systems from Dell. But equally clearly, it would be difficult for Dell to make, sell and support such systems with its current business model.

Why doesn't Dell adopt the solution outlined by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen in his book The Innovator's Dilemma? That is, to set up a completely autonomous division, dedicated solely to meeting the demand for such systems - one that is not obliged to follow any of Dell's traditional practices.

Unconstrained by Dell's current methods or cost structures, it will be able to explore, devise and adopt innovative solutions to serve this very different market profitably. Dell makes money, people get their pre-installed systems. 44 Comments »

3 ideas for Dell

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Linux, Service and Support submitted by pedriedger 02/17/07

Three ideas for Dell:
1. Service
2. Linux
3. AMD chips
Good luck, guys. The computer business is changing. 34 Comments »

Affordability and Durability for Student Laptop Initiative

Education, Laptops submitted by hdrews 02/21/07

If our district was to even consider a 1:1 student to computer ratio, we would need something much more affordable than what is out there now. Money could be saved by cutting storage space, video quality, and more. What our students generally need at their desks is the ability to surf the net and work in an "office" suite. Advanced projects can be done in our more robust labs.

Also, a laptop initiative is no good if in-house support increases 10-fold. These have to be durable. If they fall off a desk, they have to keep working. Replacement batteries need to be less expensive or an extra battery should come with each purchase. 18 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 »

Stop making excuses, and start paying attention. WE WANT LINUX!!!

Linux submitted by homer 02/28/07

Dear Michael Dell,

By now, many people will have started reading Blogs and articles about how you have back-peddled on your commitment to listen to your customers' wishes. Here's just one:

http://blog.lobby4linux.com/archives/104-So,-How-Does-It-Feel-To-Have-Been-Ha...

[Edit] Here's a more "high profile" article, from The Inquirer:

Dell backs down from Linux promise

That makes this site (DellIdeaStorm) nothing but a farce.

First you ask us what we want, then you just blatantly ignore us. What exactly was the point in asking us what we want? Is this some kind of sick joke?

Maybe you were taken off guard, and hadn't anticipated the vast demand for Linux that happened, but it did happen, so deal with it ... or be perceived as a liar and a charlatan.

If you amalgamate all the various Linux "idea" posts on this site, and tally up the total votes, you're looking at something like TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND VOTES FOR LINUX. Are you just going to ignore that, and pretend it never happened?

Here's your response to this amazing phenomenon so far, and my comments:

We are listening, and as a result, we are working with Novell to certify our corporate client products for Linux, including our OptiPlex desktops, Latitude notebooks and Dell Precision workstations.

Well you are obviously not listening. The vast majority of the Linux requests on this site are not from "corporate" customers, they are from end users seeking home computing Linux solutions. Are you listening yet?

This is another step towards ensuring that our customers have a good experience with Linux on our systems.

It's not a step forward, it's a sidestep shuffle. What exactly are you afraid of ... that people might actually prefer Linux to Windows? I could build and "certify" a Linux workstation in 20 minutes, without the assistance of production facilities and a team of engineers, why is this such a problem for the world's biggest OEM?

Are you suggesting that Linux somehow represents a "problem" with regards to hardware, and that it's going to take a team of rocket scientists months to discover Linux compatible components?

Right now, Linux works with virtually the same hardware that WIndows XP does, and considerably more hardware than Vista ... but that doesn't seem to have prevented you "certifying" Vista (a.k.a. Windows ME2). What a joke!

As this community knows, there is no single customer preference for a distribution of Linux. In the last week, the IdeaStorm community suggested more than half a dozen distributions. We don't want to pick one distribution and alienate users with a preference for another.

No, no, no, no. That's not how it works. This is just more excuses.

At the end of the day, Linux is Linux is Linux. The distro is not that significant (other than the distinction between a commercial or community distro).

Surely the CEO of one of the world's biggest companies can make a decision.

Pick a Linux distro and run with it. And stop making excuses.

My personal preference is for Fedora Core, but if you offered an Ubuntu desktop machine, I'd buy it, because (like I said) at the end of the day it is Linux that is important, not the distro. My primary motivation is to keep my money out of Microsoft's pockets and have an OS ... any OS ... that is not Windows. I can, and probably will, switch between half a dozen distros during the lifespan of that hardware.

However, it is extremely important that you offer pre-installed Linux workstations to end-users, rather than just "OS-free" systems, because without this option, you will be helping to perpetuate the misconception that Linux is not popular. Well congratulations, you have just discovered exactly how much of a misconception this really is. Maybe you should have considered DellIdeaStorm years ago, rather than sit around waiting for point-of-sale figures that could not ever accurately reflect the popularity of something that is a free download.

Trust me ... you will not alienate anyone by making a firm choice of distro support. I'm sure the tens of thousands of home users, who are demanding Linux from Dell, will be overjoyed just to have a choice of any Linux distro.

We want users to have the opportunity to help define the market for Linux on desktop and notebook systems.

This is just nonsensical marketing gobbledegook. Say what you mean, and stop obfuscating the truth with gibberish.

You can "define" the market right now ... by selling us what we want, rather than what Microsoft dictates you sell to us. The 200000+ vote for Linux should be a clear enough "definition" for anyone ... who's prepared to listen ... and not bury his head in the sand.

In addition to working with Novell,

Bad move. By all means offer Microvell to any corporate user gullible enough to swallow Steve Ballmer's baseless FUD about Microsoft's intellectual property, but I think you'll find home users rather less than receptive to any distro offerings from any company that sleeps with the enemy.

we are also working with other distributors and evaluating the possibility of additional certifications across our product line.

This is the only promising statement in the whole response, but it sounds like a lot of hot air to me.

Actions, not words.

GIVE US LINUX!

Are you trying to rejuvenate sales or not? Give the customers what they want.

We are continuing to investigate your other Linux-related ideas, so please continue to check here for updates.

Oh I'll be sure to, but I'm not holding my breath. Microsoft has you far too firmly under their thumb for me to seriously expect any positive changes at Dell.

Thanks for giving us all a glimmer of (false) hope, though. 68 Comments »

No proprietary parts

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops and Laptops submitted by neogamerdrew 02/19/07

When maintaining or upgrading a Dell, it is a shear nightmare to try and replace parts. Most things are not the standard ATX parts you would expect. I suggest that Dell move away from proprietary parts, and open the door for people to use after market parts. 28 Comments »