Submitted by Dell has been asking for input from their (prospective) customers, via a Digg-style site called Dell ‘Ideastorm‘. It turns out that the top requested feature is for Dell to pre-install Linux (alongside Windows) as an option. The second most requested feature is Openoffice.org, either as an alternative to or alongside Microsoft Office.
Cool, cool, very cool. I’m waiting for the day where I can finally buy a laptop without Windows. I recently bought an Averatec 2460, very nice, and asked the vendor & the website where I bought it if I could have it without Windows – nope. Ok, I said, perhaps it’s not bad to have a copy of Windows XP around, who knows. I installed Linux, and after a few days I thought I could try to install this Windows copy that I’ve paid for within QEmu – haha, it was of course a recovery CD that only works on this particular computer, partitions your harddrive the way MS thinks it should be partitioned, and which of course won’t run within QEmu or VMware. This is just rediculous. I DON’T NEED Windows, and I don’t want to have to pay for it – and if I have to pay for it, then I at least want to be be able to use it the way I want.
I’m thinking there were chairs being thrown in every direction in Redmond when this announcement was made.
At this rate of “chair provoking” stories, Microsoft might actually begin to manufacture them itself.
Afterall, they usually try to get into markets where the see an increasing demand
“At this rate of “chair provoking” stories, Microsoft might actually begin to manufacture them itself.”
Great. A new way to crash brought to you by MS. In this case the BSOD could be real.
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I’m thinking there were chairs being thrown in every direction in Redmond when this announcement was made.
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Has a nice ring to it though, don’t you think?
“Microsoft Chairstorm 2007”
I’m buying stock in a company that makes sheet rock. 😉
Edited 2007-02-21 02:57
My understanding is that Dell has been doing poorly lately and Beelzebub’s best mates in Wall Street are restless. The trouble is that Dell is so huge that any improvement has to be counted in billions of dollars (or hundreds of millions, at the least).
So, is adding a range of Linux pre-installs and/or Open Office going to bring in, say, a billion dollars in new! improved! contributions to the bottom line? Erm …
While these may both be appealing ideas, I would guess that they are hardly top priority for a Dell manager struggling to pacify stockholders and analysts who, bluntly, want more money now. And, of course, there is the question of Microsoft waving or withdrawing “marketing” contributions, which Linux cannot afford to do. Erm twice over since Microsoft has gigantic financial clout. I very much hope Dell will offer better open source things, but I’m not holding my breath.
So, is adding a range of Linux pre-installs and/or Open Office going to bring in, say, a billion dollars in new! improved! contributions to the bottom line? Erm …
Certainly not in the short term. However, a huge part of being successful in a saturated marketplace is finding relatively unexploited markets and differentiating yourself to appeal to this market.
For example, when Dell first started doing well, they realized that while most people were happy going to the local computer shop and selecting from the available models, a small but growing community of DIYers were customizing their own systems. What if someone could packing the customizable system in a more accessible and inexpensive format? This is how Dell become Dell.
However, what was once novel is now the norm, and the niche markets have long since abandoned the big OEMs. In a sense, Dell passed the torch to businesses like Newegg. But even these DIY e-tailers are threatened by kit vendors and niche outfitters. For example, SPCR is now selling customized, pre-built, ultra-quiet systems.
Dell’s economies of scale enable them to compete in the mass market, but that doesn’t mean that’s where they can make the most money. If you really think about what subspecies of PC buyers are willing to spend a little more than average for a system that appeals to their interests, the Linux early-adopter crowd is a good one to target. It’s a niche, but not a ridiculously small one. They don’t demand very specialized hardware, and they practically support themselves.
Furthermore, because there are so few options for systems that come with Linux (preloaded or not), Linux users will flock to whichever large OEM is the first to make a serious go at it. Say what you want about Dell, their hardware, or their service, but if they offered a nice Linux desktop preloaded on many of their systems, the Linux community would mostly forgive them. Would I prefer a Thinkpad? Yes. But if an Inspiron came with Linux, I would vote with my dollar. Even if I would install Gentoo afterwards.
It’s a small but growing market. Many of the biggest multinationals started out by targeting small but growing markets, including Dell. What’s so different about Linux?
Edited 2007-02-21 02:21
1) I’d love to know where/when/how this ‘ideastorm’ occured, because I’m fairly up on what happens, and I sure as heck didn’t see any advertisement relating where I can provide input.
2) Considering that the main people who would have accessed the site would have been technology focused individuals, it wouldn’t truely represent what customers truely want.
3) Linux isn’t the solution; the problem with Linux, like I keep saying, is the lack of commercial third party software from Adobe, Symantec, Quicken, MYOB, Peachtree and so forth and so on.
If customers can’t get their favourite application on the alternative platform, they aren’t going to move; its up to Dell and the likes to put pressure on software companies to get them to make their software available or fear losing their OEM channel(s).
Blah blah blah 3rd party software……I need no software from any of those proprietary manufacturers and most users do not either. Do you think your average home user even uses 5% of the abilities contained within Photoshop? Nope – almost any app can crop, rotate, resize and print a photo. What does Symantec offer – protection from windows viruses? Ha, you can get better protection w/ free software for windows than Symantec offers at half the resource usage.
You obviously have never used Photoshop Elements or any of the other commercial photo editors out there for end users – Photoshop being for ‘high end professional work’.
GIMP is a disaster and f-spot is a half finished iPhoto that is crashed prone; what is so f*cking hard about just copying iPhoto, and then adding MORE features than iPhoto? Geeze, I mean, if you don’t have imagination, atleast realise when there is a good thing, and copy it.
GIMP is a disaster and f-spot is a half finished iPhoto that is crashed prone; what is so f*cking hard about just copying iPhoto, and then adding MORE features than iPhoto?
Maybe you haven’t heard of Google Picassa.
http://picasa.google.com/linux/
I have, it was very buggy on Linux – I guess its a matter of waiting till Wine becomes more mature and Adobe grows a back bone and starts helping out Wine to improve Creative Suite application support.
GIMP is a disaster
No, it’s not. Just because *you* don’t like the UI doesn’t make it a disaster: it’s a very capable image-editing tool, which is just as useful at PS for 95% of tasks.
You can also get “Gimpshop”, which has a UI patterend more after that of Photoshop.
You can blame Thom Holwerda for not passing on the news :
Michael Dell
http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/02/16/6311.aspx
In 1996, we launched http://www.dell.com to provide technical support resources to our customers. Soon after, we began selling hardware over the Internet. Back in the early days, most of the focus was on e-commerce. Today, having a web presence increasingly means giving customers a way to share their feedback and ideas. Our digital media strategy was a reaction to this evolution and it’s why we’ve focused our digital media efforts on listening to our customers and acting on that information.
Michael unveiled two new components of our digital media strategy today at a statewide education conference here in Texas: Dell IdeaStorm and new functionality in StudioDell that will allow users to upload their own video testimonials.
Michael talks about both of these new tools in this StudioDell video.
Dell IdeaStorm
As blog manager for Direct2Dell, I get lots of folks who e-mail me directly with ideas. Dell IdeaStorm takes this to another level. It gives you a direct path to submit ideas about what they would you’d like to see in Dell’s products, services and operations.
Think of Dell IdeaStorm as a combination between a message board and Digg.com. Topics that earn the most points from the voting process move up to the top of the page. End result, by submitting ideas and voting on them as a community, you will tell us how you want us to change. Along the way, we’ll call out the top ideas that are being considered by Dell. We’ll also keep track of which ideas we’ve implemented, and make it easy for you to see.
If you’re interested, here is the process to get started in Dell IdeaStorm:
* Go to http://www.dellideastorm.com
* Click on the Register tab (it’s just below the Post an Idea button)
* If you have an idea, click on the Submit an Idea button
* From there, you can add a Title for the idea thread, add an Image if you want, and enter details behind your idea in the Editorial Summary dialog box
* After logging in, you can comment on any of the discussion threads
* To vote on a topic that would improve Dell’s ability to serve you, click on the blue Promote button.
You can browse by category just like you can on Direct2Dell. Overall scores for each idea are in gray just above the blue Promote button. If you’re logged in and promote an idea, you will add 10 points to that idea’s overall score.
Popular Ideas is the default view of the IdeaStorm page. It lists ideas in order of overall point total. Using the tabs across the top, you can easily see Recent Ideas (which shows lists in the order they are received) and also a Comments view (listing starts with the latest thread to receive a comment).
User-generated video testimonials in StudioDell
Beyond ideas, we want to hear how you’re using Dell products. Starting today, Dell customers who create video testimonials can submit them to the Your Stories channel in the Home network. We’ve added an Upload Your Videos button. When you click that, you enter a few fields like Screen Name, E-mail address, Video Title and Video Description. From there, you choose a category from a drop-down list, and then click on the Submit Video button.
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Dell is not interested in what you have to say Kaiwai or your “Get the Facts” , If you don’t know about IdeaStorm , its because you don’t follow the news properly and are not up to date at all :
http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=mozclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=…
and they think that internet polls are for real.
I can not hide my agreement after reading this article. This is what Microsoft deserves after mistreating users and their monopolitic practices.
Site providing this information runs pool too.
And result there is…?
Is Dell serious about listening to customers?
* No (81%)
* Yes (20%)
the sort of person… joe public…
that buys Dell machines are not happy installing Windows, so of course they would like to ave Linux installed for them
Providing they actually know what Linux is, not just have heard of it from their friends.
isn’t it a bit odd that Dell, the non company who aims for “non tinkering people” have tinkering customers who buy from dell?
Oh, or is it just so that the tinkering customers have done the ordinary campaign to make Dell believe that everyone would love Linux preinstalled just that they won’t buy it?
How is it going for Linspire btw? Didn’t they have the same idea that now people ask dell to do?
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS8382062536.html
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Feb. 20, 2007
In an attempt to boost its sagging fortunes, Dell, one of the leading PC makers in America, recently launched the Dell Idea Storm website to solicit ideas on how to get Dell back to the top. The most popular idea so far? Desktops with pre-installed Linux.
That’s good news, but what’s better news is that Dell is taking it seriously. In a brief email exchange with Bob Pearson, Dell’s vice president of corporate group communications, said, “You’re right that Linux is one of the hottest topics on Idea Storm.
….
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Edited 2007-02-21 08:34
I’d like to see OpenOffice installed instead of the crappy Corel Office X3 they bundled with their computers. Also it could also help OpenOffice get a bigger user base. I think we wont see this, as Microsoft prefer to see Corel product bundled for free than open source.