Dell Gives Android the Boot, Boots Up More Windows 8 408
hugheseyau writes "Dell vice chairman Jeff Clarke made a less than shocking announcement at this year's Dell World Conference in Austin. The company is officially giving up on Android phones and tablets. ... So if Dell is giving up on Android, what comes next? The company claims it's doubling down on Windows 8, and the enterprise market."
good luck with that (Score:3, Informative)
Windows 8 and Server 2012 are far from "enterprise" they are basically toys. And don't even get me started on RT, RT is a hunk of junk, you'd think its a Microsoft product so you can at least join it to your Microsoft Active Directory domain to help centrally manage at some basic level, I won't even go so far as to ask for a little Group Policy.
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:good luck with that (Score:4, Insightful)
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Microsoft doesn't want Windows RT to be used in enterprise and there are plenty of clues as to why not.
I wouldn't think that getting people to not use it would be a problem... Or a goal, for that matter...
Re:good luck with that (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:good luck with that (Score:4, Insightful)
The myth of deep pockets is that they are stupid. They didn't get deep pockets by being stupid. They know value when they see it, and Windows 8 ain't it.
You don't get deep pockets by being stupid, no. But I swear that once you get there, stupid waltzes in the front door.
How else can you explain the infestations of Dogbert-style consultants, over-priced/under-performing product acquisitions, and expensive projects that fail more often than not in the larger enterprises? It's like they took all the money they saved by leveraging their synergies and went looking for ways to piss it away?
Re:good luck with that (Score:4, Interesting)
The luxury sandwich uses higher quality ingredients, so while it does have a higher margin it actually costs more to produce...
Software on the other hand will typically have the fully featured version developed first, and then extra work is done to disable features and produce an artificially crippled version, thus the cheaper version actually cost more to produce.
I find such a practice despicable, to do extra work to make intentional changes that make the product less useful to paying customers!
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Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Funny)
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Interesting)
Windows 8 and Server 2012 are far from "enterprise" they are basically toys.
Agreed. It seems the purpose of Windows 8 is to provide a consumer-oriented environment conducive to buying content such as music, movies, books, etc like on the iPad and other tablets and smartphones. To date, the only things I've seen people doing with Windows 8 systems in commercials is playing movies, games, finger painting, Skype, "clicking, clicking, clicking," sliding and (often angry) dancing. No one's using the thing for any actual work...
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Funny)
To date, the only things I've seen people doing with Windows 8 systems in commercials is playing movies, games, finger painting, Skype, "clicking, clicking, clicking," sliding and (often angry) dancing. No one's using the thing for any actual work...
Well, sure... in commercials. But in the real world no one's using the thing at all.
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, because a commercial that shows a tired sysadmin plugging away at powershell is sure to sell copies of Win8!
"OH SHIT SON! That series of piped commands to remove a set of Hyper-V VM network adapters is OFF THE CHAIN!" "Look at these sexy parameters to AD powershell scripts, these guys are able to dance AND admin their azure subscriptions at the SAME TIME!"
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Funny)
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Informative)
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A bit fallacious no? Corporate officers are hardly objective when it comes to choosing IT infrastructure, esp when they have no knowledge of it beyond advertising, slick presentations, and from watching hollywood movies as children.
Anyway, windows' ubiquity might also be a factor in why remote intrusions are so commonplace.
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Re:good luck with that (Score:4, Insightful)
they have no knowledge of it beyond advertising, slick presentations, and from watching hollywood movies as children
Big companies have actual requirements and actual businesses to run. If they still run Windows Servers a decade after they first "drank the kool-aid", that means that somehow, Windows is delivering.
Stop with this tiring /. attitude. Not everybody that chose to run a windows server is an incompetent graduate with PHB bosses.
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Interesting)
We run operating systems for one reason: application delivery. Windows is where the industry specific applications are, so that is what the client machines run.
To administer the clients, it is a lot easier to do so with Windows servers.
Do i run windows servers facing the internet? Fuck no. They are well protected by hardware firewalls, mail, etc. comes through FreeBSD. But Windows has its uses.
I'm a big fan of heterogeneous networks. Use the most appropriate platform for the service you are attempting to deliver. Any mainstream OS these days can be secured "well enough" with minimal effort if you know shit from clay.
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They are actually a bit like marbles, actually. They're so simple a 12 year old could figure them out, they're always falling down and rolling all over the place, and are kept in a sturdy collection bag. To effectively use them, some Jack comes along and tries to knock them out of the circle; wash, rinse and repeat.
Re:good luck with that (Score:4, Informative)
Yep we run couple hundred windows servers. They require 24x7 baby-sitting. And weekly scheduled reboots lest they run out of juice. We also run about a hundred Linux servers, which barely require any attention, with uptimes of over 800 days.
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to be proud of over 1 year uptimes until i realized 2 things:
1. you aren't patching enough
2. when the reboot happens and it turns out your initialization script for one of your servers wasn't tested thoughly enough (b/c you never rebooted) you have a big problem. having configured it 6 months ago (timeline from when I learned my lesson) and half remembering which configs are which is going to lead to more downtime. You should really reboot after major (re)configurations to make sure your server comes back into the fold effectively... obviously, this should be during a controlled maintenance window but preventative maintenance still counts as maintenance
Re:good luck with that (Score:4, Informative)
I just run my init scripts after making changes. No need to reboot. But if i make changes to /boot then yeah, you'll have to reboot to check.
When you say "you aren't patching enough" you can only be talking about the kernel. Nothing else requires a reboot. Even then there is wierdness like kexec: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kexec [wikipedia.org]
Re:good luck with that (Score:4, Insightful)
Yep we run couple hundred windows servers. They require 24x7 baby-sitting. And weekly scheduled reboots lest they run out of juice.
Then your Windows admins don't know what they're doing. If you're not exaggerating - if it truly is the norm for your Windows servers to require perpetual baby-sitting and to be rebooted regularly - I suggest you call in Microsoft for a health check. Depending on your level of agreement, it may be free; if it isn't, the recovered time in man hours will more than make up for it. If you're not exaggerating.
Source: I have been team lead/lead consultant for companies that run hundreds or thousands of Windows servers in 24x7x365 environments. There is simply no excuse in 2012 for weekly rebooting to be the accepted norm.
Yes, it was more common back in the late 90s. But today? No excuse, and I am serious in my suggestion that you call in MS for a health check. It's in their best interest to help you fix whatever shambles is present in your environment that necessitates this.
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Insightful)
Please name me a feature that Linux has that Windows doesn't that is useful on the enterprise level.
You can use it any way you want, as much as you want, and you won't fail an audit as long as you don't publish modified code.
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Informative)
1. passive dedup could be done in userland using a script. big deal..
2. fs level crc/hashing already exists in ext4, but it is a recent feature. It's recent in windows too, so I don't see how either should be considered stable or reliable.
3. There are hardware crypto chips available which have drivers in linux, but I wouldn't trust them any more than TPM. If you're going to use crypto at the enterprise level, at least use something that you can have verified.
4. define 'joke'. what is lacking with linux lvm2? Most raid solutions in enterprise servers are hardware anyway.
5. logging is one of the most confusing messes ever on windows. this has been true since NT4 at least.. most of it is meaningless boilerplate that doesn't really tell you anything. If you're lucky, you get a hex string to shove into a search engine so you can join discussions on forums of people guessing at the problem just like you. Like managing the registry (vs text in /etc), it's mostly unsearchable without 3rd party tools and offers no more resistance to tampering than any other OS, but if you just mean the auditors give windows a free pass because it's the entrenched standard, you're right.
--
linux/bsd positives non all inclusive list.
1. sensible, flexible, searchable logging system that can be as verbose or as cryptic/dense as desired.
2. self contained services, each with manageable configurations.. easy to backup/propagate to many machines.
3. flexible thinclient configurability, from netboot disk images of standard distros to complete custom builds for each netboot device type. windows' botches this with remote desktop and licensing nonsense. Its nonsensical directory structure doesn't help either. the default windows installer ties the install to the specific machine and is not easily imageable without use of microsoft-designed hackneyed tools.
4. sensible install/uninstall tracking. windows has always been terrible at this.
5. No licensing auditors!
6. for intractable problems, having the sourcecode helps immensely. of course, this requires admins who actually know something about what they're administrating. with windows, unless you're a fortune 100 or better, you don't get that kind of attention from microsoft or any of its 3rd party 'solution providers', which do little more than patch serious functionality lapses in the base microsoft products, for exorbitant fees of course.
7. open source crypto engine with a variety of ciphers and hashing algos. Take your pick.. The admin can crypt a single directory, partition, or whole disk. the open part is key here since who the hell knows if there are backdoors in bitlocker or the TPM. It would not surprise me if there were. By using crypto, you admit you're paranoid, so why not go all the way and have the source verified by an entity you trust (or have it done in house)?
8. no upgrade treadmill.. upgrade as quickly or as slowly as you like. no pressure.
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Informative)
FYI: linux has zfs.
ZFS is the only FS to checksum data, ReFS checksums the metadata.
along that line, ZFS has dedupe and realtime snapshotting (something that windows doesnt have) HyperV snapshotting doesnt count.
But windows server 2012 is pretty sweet none the less.
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And by proxy, Android has ZFS, too. I had a pool on my SD card for a while. It worked. :) Though performance wasn't that great (using the ZoL port).
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Informative)
Please name me a feature that Linux has that Windows doesn't that is useful on the enterprise level.
1 - I can run fully functional VM instances of it in 64MB or 128MB of RAM and 2GB hard-drive on my VSphere cluster doing infrastructure work like DNS cache/DHCP in my custom VLANs. Windows Server Core is pretty light, but not quite THAT light. Frees up RAM for my heavy duty stuff.
2 - I trust it to run as a layer 4 multi-card firewall/router directly exposed to the internet that is far more configurable and powerful than an off-the-shelf solution. I'm not even sure what the equivalent to shorewall would be on windows.
3 - RADV demon for IPv6 running on an aforementioned mini VM. DHCPv6 and internet connection sharing aren't the same.
4 - NGINX web server wipes the floor with IIS for most web-serving duties on pretty much any metric you care to mention; security, robustness, speed, flexibility. And yes, I am also running several IIS servers for .NET 3rd party apps, alas.
5 - No licence worries about whether I've exceeding my allowed server count. Not all businesses can just drop a few extra K for more server licences on demand these days.
Don't get me wrong; I am running a bunch of Windows 2008R2 servers (AD, DFS file servers, dynamic DNS, Terminal Servers, several 3rd party app specific boxes, hyper-v trial for poor man's VDI) and they do their job - serve data to windows and osx desktops/laptops - well most of the time. (except the DFS setup, that's a been a buggy pain in the arse). But our network is a synthesis, using the strengths of both platforms to do what they do best.
BTW - BTRFS will be the equivalent or better to ReFS (which is also only just out in 2012). It's still marked as unstable, but Linux's unstable is still better than the quality of most companies' finished 'enterprise' software. Speaking from bitter experience, there...
Re:good luck with that (Score:5, Informative)
I'm pretty sure ext4 does this.I know for a fact btrfs does this.
In addition if you don't like Linux's ext4, which is a great FS, enterprise grade filesystems Are enterprises using ReFS now? Its new. How widespread is that? how does that really stack against ext4 for general usage. Or even JFS/XFS for database performance. Is ReFS tested? After ext4, btrfs is right around the corner. This is the filesystem of your dreams. MS has no answer.
"Logging, policies, and so on which are needed for anything bigger than the guy in his basement: Linux doesn't offer this, Windows does via GPOs. This is important come audit time, and the auditors are there."
pretty sure linux has that too.
"Please name me a feature that Linux has that Windows doesn't that is useful on the enterprise level."
1. runs on archecture other than x86, namely IBM's z-series. you don't use mainframes in the enterprise world, no sir.
2. scales well for multiple CPUs (as in hundreds-thousands), making it the de-facto OS for super computers.
3. stable, doesn't break. developers won't make accusations at you for reporting bugs.
4. Rock Solid drivers. drivers for linux are generally rock solid, with few problems. The exception being 3 party drivers written by reverse engineering. If your running enterprise and you have factory drives, this is not an issue.
5. performance in general.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/230527/ubuntu_linux_day_16_ext4_vs_ntfs.html
" ReFS does not support data de-duplication, copy-on-write snapshots (a ZFS and Btrfs feature"
weren't you just talking about this,
slow day at work mr balmer?
Shove the others under the bus (Score:2)
When we see these Microsoft stories it's really heartwarming to see proponents of one business division pushing the others under the bus - ensuring their counterparts will respond in kind.
It reminds us that Microsoft is a dozen warlords more at war with each other than with us.
While they seek dominance over each other we might have progress.
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I will give you windows 8. But Server 2012 is basically completely built around enterprise and while win 8 will probably be a failure in the enterprise, server 2012 will be a huge success with many large functionality upgrades.
As long as there is a way to change the interface back to "Classic".
They've put some kind of dodgy neutered form of Metro on Server 2012, it will seriously hinder it unless it can be replaced.
Windows 8 will be a complete failure
Market changing? Not competing successfully? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Hey, at least they're not going the way of SCO, Nokia, Ericsson, and dare I say it, Apple by just suing people left and right as they slowly cease to produce anything of value in their industry. They're still trying to innovate their way out of their troubles. They should be given a medal, not under normal circumstances, but when you compare to their corporate peers...
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Nokia, Ericsson, and dare I say it, Apple
snip
cease to produce anything of value in their industry
Bullshit. In the case of Apple sure it's often software and may be more or less easy to come up with but obviously it "got value" for the industry even in that case. Both for Apple and for the opponents.
Nokia and Ericsson likely still come up with new things and have made innovated others with research done from their own pockets so nothing weird with that (though you could argue they did that to earn money back then selling their products and already have. But obviously it cost more to do research than
Re:Market changing? Not competing successfully? (Score:5, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Dell is pretty much a division!? of microsoft (Score:4, Informative)
Lets use the correct term *Dependant* on Microsoft. Dell like all the OEM's is in the position of having only one supplier for its OS, and that makes it very weak, even more so as its only successful products rely exclusively on it. Where it is is very *safe*. Its just weird watching on the outside seeing this massive computing revolution, and a company *choosing* to remain Microsoft's bitch, even when Microsoft are working towards obsoleting them with their own products.
Re:Market changing? Not competing successfully? (Score:5, Funny)
Then again, in the restaurant business, nobody would manage to sell dog food mixed with vomit to 95% of the customers in the first place.
Umm, the McRib IS due for a return later today, smartass.
Re:Market changing? Not competing successfully? (Score:5, Insightful)
maybe..but that might suggest that modern day 'business sense' is part of the reason why the economy is tanking. I've seen countless examples of technology companies using the sell-a-turd-as-a-diamond marketing for new products, then, when they don't sell, killing their existing successful products which compete with them, then posting butthurt blogs whining about their lost 'vision' 12 months later as they circle the drain.
It seems most of the effort today is poured into marketing service constrained 'property' instead of selling quality goods that allow customers to own the intrinsic value. So the only way they can compete is to turn up the marketing rhetoric knob to 11 and hope they can grab the largest group of mouth breathers who don't realize what they're (not) getting.. This dynamic range has largely been filled and we're leveling out at +0db with tons of clipping. The exquisite layering of fallacy and appeals to social insecurity in modern advertising has reached mind numbing levels. It seriously can't get much worse than it is now.. It's whitenoise.
The slashdot nerd archetype isn't necessarily not business savvy because he's wrong.. He isn't considered business savvy because he's actually more closely tied to reality than today's average marketing department, corporate officer, or consumer. Now THAT should scare us all.
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Great post! Its so funny watching these CMOs, CIOs, CTOs, COOs, CEOs passing around the same smoke their getting from trade rags, thinking if they can just build a walled garden like Apple they'll all be printing Benjamins like they're going out of style. Forgetting (or never appreciating in the first place) all the while that the one thing Steve got right was creating a beautiful user experience, and that his obsessive need to control every atom was the downside of his vision. These clowns want to implemen
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It's a bit more complicated than that.
Apple decided many years ago they weren't going to cater to the commodity PC market. Instead, they'd focus on people who want something a bit special. In so doing, every aspect of their business was designed with one explicit goal in mind - make great products that people love using.
Every aspect. From product design & development through to sales, marketing and aftercare, everything is engineered to make the customer feel a little bit special. Even if that means mak
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Time to invest in Dell. If I've learned anything over the years of coming here it's that Slashdots are the most inept people at business trends.
Slashdot is a discussion group. Its probably why you have not registered, people with *different* opinions make opposing posts about the topic, where you are only capable of attacking people. Ironically in the context of this article is the Trend is towards Android and away from Microsoft, by every measurable factor, and is set to continue for years...those figures are not from Slashdot. In fact the current trend is Android will become the dominant the computing platform as soon an next year. Detailed Blog
Another company bets the boat on Windows (Score:2, Troll)
Will Dell go the way Noika has? Time will tell.
As I've said for years, friends (family) doesn't let friends (family) buy Dell.
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Except dell is migrating into an enterprise solutions business. Their consumer product business is somewhat secondary to their business software.
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Except dell is migrating into an enterprise solutions business. Their consumer product business is somewhat secondary to their business software.
Good move since the major enterprise players are going bespoke and whitebox. http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/11/amazon-google-secret-servers/ [wired.com] Ooops...
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Those are a couple major players, but they are both top tier tech firms with far from normal data requirements and huge engineering departments. They are outliers when it comes to enterprise sales and shouldn't be used to gauge the market.
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Well, the article you point to says Amazon and Google are going that way, but there's enough -- including government -- that aren't that there is plenty of market for enterprise solutions, especially given the small number of players in the market (Amazon and, especially, Google are arguably more competitors in that market than they are the target customers.)
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So it was a reasonably priced, fairly power tank... Why was it that you didn't you want it? I'm honestly wondering. (lack of cool factor, you didn't think it was going to be the little tank that it was, some feature you still miss it having?)
HP is moving and shaking (Score:3)
People laugh at Dell but I would not be surprised if their share price goes up once HP
I care little for both companies, but ignoring the fact that Dell shares are sliding *today* and HP shares are up. As an outsider I see HP trying to evolve as a company, and Dell being stagnant , while the world changes [Mobile as a growth market, Microsoft evolving into a Hardware company and losing against the 'Pack of Four']. I prefer HP's strategy, not their poor implementation, but I think doing less than nothing is a recipe for failure. Although you can see companies like Asus and Sony doing nicely si
Dell makes some decent stuff (Score:3)
They make some excellent monitors (the IPS panels in particular) and I have a 2yo Vostro14" that I got for a good price and is still going strong.
Re:Another company bets the boat on Windows (Score:4, Insightful)
Nokia had a hostile takeover by Microsoft, I think Dell's case is that they completely failed to enter the Android market with any sort of innovative or well marketed product. Nokia was doing just fine until they burnt their non-windows phone product lines to the ground.
I guess thats the end of sputnik? (Score:3)
Android != Linux (Score:4, Interesting)
Supporting Linux *is* supporting the enterprise market. No way Dell is backing off that.
I think they may be backing of Android partly as a response to Google announcing they are dropping Exchange integration. Though that could be a coincidence.
Re:Android != Linux (Score:4, Interesting)
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And why? (Score:5, Insightful)
So why dump Android? According to Clarke, “It’s a content play with Android”. “Amazon is selling books and Google is making it up with search.
So, basically, there was competent competition, and Dell's me-toosim wasn't cutting it.
For those who didn't notice (Score:5, Insightful)
Dell made an Android tablet, known as the Dell Streak, it was not a success. Expensive, crap screen, underpowered, cheapy feeling.
So now they're switching to Windows 8, with their expensive underpowered crap screens, cheap feeling tablets, THEY'RE SURE TO BE HUGELY SUCCESSFUL!!!
Methinks they're not fixing the real problem. Android sell in bucket loads and if they couldn't sell a tablet with it, then they needed to refine their tablet designs till they did sell. Change Android for Windows 8, doesn't fix their problems, it just adds another one: no touch apps.
Re:For those who didn't notice (Score:5, Insightful)
Is anyone surprised that Dell is jumping on the MS Surface bandwagon.
Re:For those who didn't notice (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually I'm guessing someone on the M$ board called up someone on the Dell board and informed them they're now going to now assume the position or pay the price, and keep paying. Dell blinked and now to paraphrase Lewis Black, they had to put on a dress, lipstick, a little eye shadow, some glitter and now they're giving sailors blow jobs. And that... is the future of Dell.
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Windows 8 demand on touch is so high OEMs can not meet it!
We bash it on slashdot, but consumers will refuse to touch Windows 8 on a non touch screen device and it makes sense to go all tiny screen and touch as this is where the market is heading and what the OS is optimized for touch over mouse on purpose [neowin.net]
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Microsoft ensures a competitive ecosystem by favoring a few, and disfavoring the top. In this way they preserve a competitive ecosystem determined to cut each other out of profit. This is how Microsoft and Intel get the lion's share of PC profits, by playing one against the other. No one could become powerful enough to be bold.
This worked until Apple and Google ripped the entire carpet out from under them.
Re:For those who didn't notice (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, their XPS 12 looks like a decent enough device. Who knows, maybe they can actually make good things that aren't really tablets (but rather convertible notebooks etc)?
There are no more "Enterprise" phones and tablets (Score:5, Interesting)
It's all going BYOD. As much as I hate it, its all going BYOD. Bad move, Dell.
Even RIM, which is based on the enterprise, is changing.
Not yet. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:There are no more "Enterprise" phones and table (Score:4, Interesting)
It's all going BYOD. As much as I hate it, its all going BYOD. Bad move, Dell.
I really doubt that, a few high-profile incidents where BYOD caused big losses and that idea will die a quick death, not that it was ever alive in many lines of business. The better question is what's the difference between a consumer and enterprise computers, except software? Nothing. My employer-issued smart phone is a regular Android phone, they've just set it up with policies like wiping itself if you enter the PIN incorrectly a few times. There's also a use agreement which says I can't let anyone else gain knowledge of the PIN or operate it - no letting your kids play on it folks - and I'm bearing the full risk of what any non-IT approved application could do to their data. It's a pretty safe bet I won't be installing any.
I'll be a cold day in hell before they go BYOD on terms that I could accept as well, doesn't even matter if we both pick the same model I'm going to have mine and theirs. But it's a pretty good chance that theirs is going to be a consumer model that I pick. I've heard much the same story with tablets, people like and want to use it but when it comes to putting business critical data on it the requirements often crash and they start looking at corporate issued tablets instead. There'll be less "You can have any color phone you want, as long as it's black" standard issue but it's always going to be trouble for one piece of hardware to have two masters.
Actually.... (Score:2)
The better question is what's the difference between a consumer and enterprise computers, except software? Nothing. My employer-issued smart phone is a regular Android phone, they've just set it up with policies like wiping itself if you enter the PIN incorrectly a few times. There's also a use agreement which says I can't let anyone else gain knowledge of the PIN or operate it - no letting your kids play on it folks - and I'm bearing the full risk of what any non-IT approved application could do to their data. It's a pretty safe bet I won't be installing any.
Actually, most smart phones are handled like enterprise models of computer systems, where the model doesn't change during its life cycle. If you buy a Galaxy III when it first came out or a year later, it is still the same hardware. Likewise, with business or enterprise computers, the manufacturer normally guarantees that each model off the line has the same hardware and component specs. On the other hand, consumer grade computers, even if they are the same model number very often have different component
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We found a good way to solve that at my workplace.
Sheet-metal building facade. Wire mesh structure for interior panels. Like working in a faraday cage.
You want to BYOD? Well, you're not getting a mobile connection, and you're not getting on our network without begging before the judgemental gods of the IT team.
Michael Dell on Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
Michael Dell
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"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,"
Michael Dell
Should take his own advice, HA HA HA.
Android made phones/tablets? (Score:5, Insightful)
To me, the news is that Dell made phones/tablets. I'd never heard of them before, nor have I ever seen any.
Am I the only one here?
Yes, (Score:2)
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"..Poor resolution. Poor speed. The list continues..."
Well now you can add Poor OS.
Interesting analogy... (Score:5, Interesting)
Last time I checked, gambling behavior as a primary hobby or profession wasn't considered respectable or responsible, it was considered borderline sociopathic.
If I were a stockholder I'd be worried. Technology these days seems to be about a combination of giving people what they want and convincing people of what they want. Android, to an extent, is giving people what they want, as Android is popular with users as well as with OEMs. Windows 8, by and large, does not appear to be popular, either in portable devices or on the desktop.
So, Dell is now moving to a system of neither giving people what they want, nor convincing people of what they want.
I don't think that Dell is in any danger of going Chapter 7. Where I work buys Dell just about exclusively, in a 30,000 desktop environment. The paltry sales Apple or other OEMs get is almost not worth mentioning. But, their extra markets, like phones, tablets, and other consumer devices will probably die.
I had actually wanted a Dell phone back in the day, but they weren't compatible with my cell provider. Otherwise they had the features I wanted. Pity that...
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If I were a stockholder I'd be worried. Technology these days seems to be about a combination of giving people what they want and convincing people of what they want.
Interesting point. Back in 90s and 00s, the field was advancing at the rate that the technology improved. These days, the technical power of the devices we buy have pretty much surpassed average users' needs. Then came the ultrabook fad, which introduced new, lighter form-features and longer battery life. At this point, outside of increasing battery life and perhaps introducing more asinine screen resolutions, there isn't much more innovation to be done, and ultimately, it'll just come down to whatever catc
No help (Score:5, Interesting)
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Just finished updating my Streak5 ... great devices, too bad they thought a custom interface was the way to go.
Windows 8 + Enterprise = LOLZ (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry, no Norwegian Blues for Sale... (Score:5, Funny)
Dell walks into a cheese shop, looks around poking and sniffing and suddenly a clerk (who looks vaguely like John Cleese) pops up from behind the counter!
Clerk: May I help you, Sir?
Dell: Why yes, I'd like some cheese!
Clerk: We have a lovely Apple Brie here, smooth, creamy, the customers can't seem to get enough?...
Dell: Arrghhh, No, Thank you.
Clerk: Perhaps a nice sharp Android Cheddar? Its full bodied, not as smooth as the Brie, but technically fuller?...
Dell: No, I don't want any lousy Android.
Clerk: Well then Sir, what did you have in mind?...
Dell: I'd like a great big fat slab of the Microsoft Limburger!!!
Clerk: Sir, I haven't sold any Microsoft in a fortnight, are you sure you wouldn't want something a wee bit fresher?
Dell: No, My minds made up, I want the Microsoft, and bowl of raw garlic cloves and I'll eat it here!
Clerk: Are you daft! You're going to die of indigestion and your head'll explode! Then I'll have to call a hazardous waste team to have you remains removed from the premises!
Dell: What could go wrong? As long as I finish off with a Wafer Thin Mint, I'll be fine, by the way, have you ever sold parrots?
In other words... (Score:5, Insightful)
In other words, Microsoft made Dell another offer they couldn't refuse by not shipping other operating systems. It's not the first time, but with the public's acceptance of Windows 8, it could be the last.
Dell's market (Score:2, Interesting)
Posting as AC because I used to work for them...
I remember being on a conference call and someone asked why Dell didn't focus more on the consumer market, in light of the success of the iPhone, etc. It was clear to me from the answer that Dell doesn't take the consumer market that seriously. They see the enterprise market as being much larger and more lucrative, much like Microsoft does. So Dell will always have a presence in the consumer market, just to say that it has some offerings, but they have no inte
Android not a good fit for Dell (Score:3)
Keep in mind that Dell is one of the few "mainstream" PC manufacturers that will sell you a top-line laptop with a Linux distro preinstalled and supported:
http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/xps-13-linux/pd.aspx [dell.com]
So why stop selling Android devices (most popular mobile OS) and move to a platform that many don't think will go anywhere? Dell isn't known for Android; they're a trusted name in Windows machines. I've never seen a Dell Android phone or tablet in the wild. There's a good reason for that. Personally I think their Windows 8 devices will flop too, but they'll probably sell more of them than they do Android devices.
Correction: It will be irrelevant: (Score:5, Informative)
It's not like Dell hasn't wandered into markets before and failed miserably [wikipedia.org]
Of course sometimes they just don't know when to quit [dell.com].
Eventually, they'll get the hint and just focus on making servers and business workstations...
Re:Correction: It will be irrelevant: (Score:5, Insightful)
Eventually, they'll get the hint...
By the time they got the hint, the marketplace would have pulled out the rug out from under their feet ...
See what happened to HP or Nokia, or Kodak?
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more proof for the Judge Idiocracy Theorem.
Re:You comment is invalid. (Score:4, Insightful)
"it really *whips* .. the llama's arse." No kicking involved, I'm so sorry.
Crap!! (Score:3, Funny)
They have their place (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally I'm typing this on a several-year-old Lenovo Ideapad S10-2, my wife uses a Thinkpad X301, and Dad bought an Ideapad G550 based on our recommendations, so I like old-IBM/Lenovo fairly well, but I don't think that Dell is quite as bad overall as you've dealt with. I'm using an old Latitude D520 at work in the field without problems, and my Optiplex 780 workstation has handled its duties without problems.
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We were going to go to HP, but the eval machine didn't even have driver packs (for SCCM task sequence) like Dell provides. We never got around to even imaging the box to try it out.
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I think the Android market share issue is overblown. Most of those devices aren't the quality of product that any American company would sell: they're low end Chinese 2.3 phones. More important, is Dell doesn't have a lot of credibility in the Android space. The fact that Android is popular doesn't mean anything for Dell's bottom line if they can't move the devices. Dell, Samsung, HTC, etc aren't in existence to fight the good fight and help Android rule the world. Their purpose is to profit for their share