Dell is in trouble, as this eWeek article illustrates. They can recover. There is not any doubt about that. It is simply that selling cheap PCs is not enough to wow the masses, any more, whether they are corporate types or home users.
In the past, Dell's service was really something to crow about and they are still bragging on it, though it has gone downhill enough to elicit more complaints than praise. Dell definitely needs to fix this, pronto. Their use of remote administration is surely one step in the right direction, but is not nearly enough to reverse the trend of ill will they have generated in the last couple years. I think they know it and will take their best shot at doing better. They have to hurry, though.
And while Dell has been proud in the past that they do almost no R&D (thus saving a lot of money) they are going to have to start. Customers are demanding innovation in all but the cheapest machines. In order to meet that expectation, Dell is going to have to innovate on their own, rather than just aping features that have proven popular in other maker's lines.
The laptop battery recall isn't really their fault, but how they handle it will influence a LOT of possible customer's opinions. Dell is off to what looks like a good start, but they have to execute all the way through. They are dependent on Sony to come up with the replacement batteries in a reasonable amount of time and if there are problems Dell will have to find a second supplier....pronto. They may already have. I don't know.
Their future is in their own hands.
Jack
Friday, September 15, 2006
Dell Customers Ask for More
Dell is in trouble, as this eWeek article illustrates. They can recover. There is not any doubt about that. It is simply that selling cheap PCs is not enough to wow the masses, any more, whether they are corporate types or home users.
In the past, Dell's service was really something to crow about and they are still bragging on it, though it has gone downhill enough to elicit more complaints than praise. Dell definitely needs to fix this, pronto. Their use of remote administration is surely one step in the right direction, but is not nearly enough to reverse the trend of ill will they have generated in the last couple years. I think they know it and will take their best shot at doing better. They have to hurry, though.
And while Dell has been proud in the past that they do almost no R&D (thus saving a lot of money) they are going to have to start. Customers are demanding innovation in all but the cheapest machines. In order to meet that expectation, Dell is going to have to innovate on their own, rather than just aping features that have proven popular in other maker's lines.
The laptop battery recall isn't really their fault, but how they handle it will influence a LOT of possible customer's opinions. Dell is off to what looks like a good start, but they have to execute all the way through. They are dependent on Sony to come up with the replacement batteries in a reasonable amount of time and if there are problems Dell will have to find a second supplier....pronto. They may already have. I don't know.
Their future is in their own hands.
Jack
In the past, Dell's service was really something to crow about and they are still bragging on it, though it has gone downhill enough to elicit more complaints than praise. Dell definitely needs to fix this, pronto. Their use of remote administration is surely one step in the right direction, but is not nearly enough to reverse the trend of ill will they have generated in the last couple years. I think they know it and will take their best shot at doing better. They have to hurry, though.
And while Dell has been proud in the past that they do almost no R&D (thus saving a lot of money) they are going to have to start. Customers are demanding innovation in all but the cheapest machines. In order to meet that expectation, Dell is going to have to innovate on their own, rather than just aping features that have proven popular in other maker's lines.
The laptop battery recall isn't really their fault, but how they handle it will influence a LOT of possible customer's opinions. Dell is off to what looks like a good start, but they have to execute all the way through. They are dependent on Sony to come up with the replacement batteries in a reasonable amount of time and if there are problems Dell will have to find a second supplier....pronto. They may already have. I don't know.
Their future is in their own hands.
Jack
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Windows Vista RC1 Now Downloadable By Anyone
Or you can do what I did if your Internet connection is not up to snuff for a 3 to 4 GB download, and order a DVD for a very reasonable $3 plus $2 shipping.
So if you've been wanting to take a look at Vista for yourself, now is your chance.
So if you've been wanting to take a look at Vista for yourself, now is your chance.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Microsoft Releases New "Open Specifications Promise" on 35 Web Services Specifications
While the link above is to a rather long and detailed post at Consortiuminfo.org, I found it very informative on matters of patent licensing in regards to software standards.
The subject of the post is Microsoft's promise not to assert patent holder's rights against implementers of a proposed standard. Essentially, this means that while MS has the patents, they won't sue anyone using the technology in implementation of the standard in question.
Like I said; it is complex. But this will go a long ways towards clearing up any questions you might have on the subject. It is very well written and quite understandable, which is refreshing.
Jack
The subject of the post is Microsoft's promise not to assert patent holder's rights against implementers of a proposed standard. Essentially, this means that while MS has the patents, they won't sue anyone using the technology in implementation of the standard in question.
Like I said; it is complex. But this will go a long ways towards clearing up any questions you might have on the subject. It is very well written and quite understandable, which is refreshing.
Jack
Cookies Detected by Anti-Spyware Programs: The Current Status
Ben Edelmen has posted a link to a study that he was commissioned to do about which cookies 9 different spyware detectors detect and remove. I found it interesting, and it has a handy graph. Check it out. The Summary is as follows:
The report is available here.
--MissM
I test eleven anti-spyware programs for their treatment of cookies from 50 advertising systems. I report my observations in full detail, along with analysis of notable detections. For example, I find that PC Tools Spyware Doctor detects the most cookies from within my sample (50%), while cookies from Advertising.com, Aquantive/Atlas, Casale Media, FastClick, and MediaPlex are most often detected (each detected by 8 of the 11 anti-spyware programs tested). Conversion-tracking cookies from Yahoo Overture are widely detected (6/11), but no anti-spyware programs detects the corresponding Google cookies, perhaps because Google's cookies use arbitrary names that are hard for scanners to identify. I conclude by reporting some anomalies observed in testing, and by suggesting privacy-protective practices that may nonetheless accommodate typical advertiser objectives.
The report is available here.
--MissM
WOW-Pen Eco100 Review
I'm mainly a trackball user, since Joe rightly convinced me it was the key to solving ergonomic problems that had resulted in a bad case of "frozen shoulder". I do still have mice on some machines, but don't use them much. The exception is my laptop(s), where I have been unable to find a suitable trackball for mobile use that I can rationalize paying for.
ExtremeTech has a review on a "pen" mouse. It looks very, very attractive, though I will have to wait for later models which will better the current model's 400 dpi resolution. When they come out I'll pawn something if I have to to get one. (I wonder how much they will give me for a cat that loves to type? I could solve two problems at once that way.)
Anyway; the idea of a "pen" mouse is one I like and I cannot wait for them to be just a bit more capable.
Jack
ExtremeTech has a review on a "pen" mouse. It looks very, very attractive, though I will have to wait for later models which will better the current model's 400 dpi resolution. When they come out I'll pawn something if I have to to get one. (I wonder how much they will give me for a cat that loves to type? I could solve two problems at once that way.)
Anyway; the idea of a "pen" mouse is one I like and I cannot wait for them to be just a bit more capable.
Jack
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Microsoft delivers 'Save as PDF' add-on | CNET News.com
"Microsoft has released a free download that will enable Office 2007 users to save documents in both Adobe Systems's PDF format and Microsoft's own rival format, XPS."
Microsoft said it was coming.
Microsoft said it was coming.
Top Windows writer abandons Microsoft
"MICROSOFT DEVELOPER and writer Pete Wright has had enough of Vole and has bought an Apple."
It looks like some of the people in Redmond are leaving! What does this mean?
Thanks Rick-in-Florida for this.
It looks like some of the people in Redmond are leaving! What does this mean?
Thanks Rick-in-Florida for this.
A Few Well Deserved Kudos for Western Digital
I never say this, but I really hate knowledge bases. Even FAQ sections seem depressingly inadequate nearly all the time. Knowledge bases always seem hard to navigate. So much so that it is often a full day's work to find and digest enough information to solve whatever problem it is I am having. The Microsoft KB is like that. It's not their fault, either. The entire site shows that they try really hard to make it pertinent, up to date and usable, but there is so much information to dispense and it overlaps so dramatically that one is often left sorting through literally dozens of articles that might, just might, apply to what you are about. I appreciate Microsoft's efforts to make their KB usable, but with so much there, even the best search facility falls flat at times and I have to sort through all those possible hits. Sometimes more than once, if I haven't chosen my search terms well enough.
You have all heard me complain about being poor. It's a common enough affliction, these days. Because I and a lot of those whose computers I service are not terribly flush, I often buy factory refurbished parts, particularly hard drives.
I stick with the major brands and have had remarkably little trouble with them. They have given good service over an acceptable service life and on the very few occasions I have had trouble, the vendors and/or the manufacturers have made things right in short order.
The brand of refurbished hard drive that has gotten most of my business lately is Western Digital. My local vendors always seem to have them and occasionally Fry's has them on sale. Generally, I can get an 80 GB Caviar IDE drive (7200 rpm) very affordably. That is all the capacity most of my users, including myself, need. And the drive is so common that even the beta RAID drivers for Vista see them on the first try. Linux RAID software works just as well with them. Should someone need more capacity or redundancy, tossing another one into the box is easy as pie and cheap.
(I generally don't go in for bigger drives because I own and work on a LOT of older hardware. Often the older disk controllers or bios cannot see larger drives and rather than partition to overcome this, I just stick with that size.)
I have spent the last few nights trying to get a 5 year old bios to see one of my WD refurbs. It just would not. I could even install an OS, but it would not boot after the installation because a bios cannot hand off to the OS hardware it cannot see. I tried all the tricks I know and not one thing worked. I don't have enough hair left to be pulling it out, so I hit the WD web site.
What I found there was a delight. The FAQ had a couple "the bios can't see it" entries. Both recommended I download their diagnostic tools as well as giving me information on remedies to try. Everything was plain, clear and easy to find. The solution turned out to be an alternative jumper setting which was not listed on the label of the drive. I ran the diagnostic tools on an XP machine overnight. It took 9 hours, but I did not mind. I was asleep, after all.
In the end, I added a few bookmarks to my favorites under "help" and read about 10 articles that gave me a better understanding of what had happened and things to look out for, that I might anticipate problems. It really was a treat to see a knowledge base so well laid out and easy to digest. I just wish the Microsoft KB could be that way, but the sheer size of it would defeat anyone who tried to make it over and I just have to accept that.
And the PC boots and runs just fine, now.
Jack
You have all heard me complain about being poor. It's a common enough affliction, these days. Because I and a lot of those whose computers I service are not terribly flush, I often buy factory refurbished parts, particularly hard drives.
I stick with the major brands and have had remarkably little trouble with them. They have given good service over an acceptable service life and on the very few occasions I have had trouble, the vendors and/or the manufacturers have made things right in short order.
The brand of refurbished hard drive that has gotten most of my business lately is Western Digital. My local vendors always seem to have them and occasionally Fry's has them on sale. Generally, I can get an 80 GB Caviar IDE drive (7200 rpm) very affordably. That is all the capacity most of my users, including myself, need. And the drive is so common that even the beta RAID drivers for Vista see them on the first try. Linux RAID software works just as well with them. Should someone need more capacity or redundancy, tossing another one into the box is easy as pie and cheap.
(I generally don't go in for bigger drives because I own and work on a LOT of older hardware. Often the older disk controllers or bios cannot see larger drives and rather than partition to overcome this, I just stick with that size.)
I have spent the last few nights trying to get a 5 year old bios to see one of my WD refurbs. It just would not. I could even install an OS, but it would not boot after the installation because a bios cannot hand off to the OS hardware it cannot see. I tried all the tricks I know and not one thing worked. I don't have enough hair left to be pulling it out, so I hit the WD web site.
What I found there was a delight. The FAQ had a couple "the bios can't see it" entries. Both recommended I download their diagnostic tools as well as giving me information on remedies to try. Everything was plain, clear and easy to find. The solution turned out to be an alternative jumper setting which was not listed on the label of the drive. I ran the diagnostic tools on an XP machine overnight. It took 9 hours, but I did not mind. I was asleep, after all.
In the end, I added a few bookmarks to my favorites under "help" and read about 10 articles that gave me a better understanding of what had happened and things to look out for, that I might anticipate problems. It really was a treat to see a knowledge base so well laid out and easy to digest. I just wish the Microsoft KB could be that way, but the sheer size of it would defeat anyone who tried to make it over and I just have to accept that.
And the PC boots and runs just fine, now.
Jack
Sunday, September 10, 2006
On Computers Radio Show Podcast 09-10-06
This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 09-10-06. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.
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