A first from Dell: giving customers a choice of Windows operating systems

"Mike Hall MVP" wrote in message
...
Julian

This is the business range that one rarely sees on the shelves of consumer
stores, and they are supplied 'box' only.. HP are as aware as most that
business is always slower to take up new technology than the guy on the
street who is looking more for bragging rights than a stable and well
understood OS that has to support mission critical work.. I daresay that a
look at Dells business range would reveal the same pattern..

Yes, for all but the smallest companies upgrading operating systems is akin
to driving ocean going supertankers You can't just stop or do a U turn,
it takes planning.

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:50:16 -0400, 98 Guy wrote:

Larry wrote:

Today in a newspaper advertisement for Dell computers directed
at business customers, the ad gave customers a choice of Windows
Vista or Windows XP for each computer being offered. I've never
seen anything like this before.

"We heard you loud and clear on bringing the Windows XP
option back to our Dell consumer PC offerings,' Dell said
on its Ideas in Action page. Users get to vote on various
suggestions, and the notion of bringing back XP got 10,000
'points,' making it among the most popular requests but
well below top picks such as adding Linux or OpenOffice.org
to its PCs," Fried reports."

Figures - "well below" the top picks, so that comes out number one.



http://www.macdailynews.com/index.ph..._windows_ xp/

See also:

http://www.slashgear.com/customers-t...-xp-194856.php

I think this story is getting more exposure in places outside the US,
like UK and Australia.

I've heard that Macro$haft is offering something called XP-starter
edition in India or China for like $3. Yes, three dollars. But it's
heavily handicapped, and it's not selling well:

Five countries to get cheap Windows XP
Published: August 10, 2004, 8:00 PM PDT
http://www.slashgear.com/customers-t...-xp-194856.php

Microsoft Takes On Digital Divide with $3 Windows-Office Bundle
Published: April 25, 2007
http://www.itjungle.com/two/two042507-story05.html

Larry wrote:

Today in a newspaper advertisement for Dell computers directed at business
customers, the ad gave customers a choice of Windows Vista or Windows XP for
each computer being offered. I've never seen anything like this before. In
the past, once a new version of Windows had come out, Dell sold all its new
computers with the new version.

What this seems to indicate is that Dell is aware of the problems with Vista
and the unhappiness many users have expressed about it, so they want to
attract more customers by giving them the option of buying XP.

Incorrect. All it means is Dell is offering a choice of OS's.


--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

Richard Urban wrote:

What about the "fact" that HP is out selling Dell - and HP is offering only
Vista?

I've never bought PCs in a retaill outlet, but always look at them. I
was in an "office supply" store the other day and they had E-Machines,
HPs, but no Dells.

--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

"Plato" |@|.| wrote in message
...
Richard Urban wrote:

What about the "fact" that HP is out selling Dell - and HP is offering
only
Vista?

I've never bought PCs in a retaill outlet, but always look at them. I
was in an "office supply" store the other day and they had E-Machines,
HPs, but no Dells.

Until very recently Dell computers were never available through retail
outlets
and even now only through a very limited number...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...052900823.html

To certain degree, it is correct if you are a long time customer and
observer of Dell and I am both.

By doing so, it adds extra workload to the configuration and assembly, and
you think Dell will do that for no reasons?


"Plato" |@|.| wrote in message
...
Larry wrote:

Today in a newspaper advertisement for Dell computers directed at
business
customers, the ad gave customers a choice of Windows Vista or Windows XP
for
each computer being offered. I've never seen anything like this before.
In
the past, once a new version of Windows had come out, Dell sold all its
new
computers with the new version.

What this seems to indicate is that Dell is aware of the problems with
Vista
and the unhappiness many users have expressed about it, so they want to
attract more customers by giving them the option of buying XP.

Incorrect. All it means is Dell is offering a choice of OS's.


--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

They offer XP because customers are asking for XP still and they can sell
more computers.

This is not a reflection on Vista as there are legitimate reasons to still
run XP rather than Vista.

Then again, why would you buy from Dell unless a large corporate purchasing
department that has volume discounts and assigned service as Dell is getting
too expensive especially on anything that is not the base PC or laptop and
they are the king of adding crapware to the machine.

- Dave

"xfile" wrote in message
...
To certain degree, it is correct if you are a long time customer and
observer of Dell and I am both.

By doing so, it adds extra workload to the configuration and assembly, and
you think Dell will do that for no reasons?


"Plato" |@|.| wrote in message
...
Larry wrote:

Today in a newspaper advertisement for Dell computers directed at
business
customers, the ad gave customers a choice of Windows Vista or Windows XP
for
each computer being offered. I've never seen anything like this before.
In
the past, once a new version of Windows had come out, Dell sold all its
new
computers with the new version.

What this seems to indicate is that Dell is aware of the problems with
Vista
and the unhappiness many users have expressed about it, so they want to
attract more customers by giving them the option of buying XP.

Incorrect. All it means is Dell is offering a choice of OS's.


--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

They offer XP because customers are asking for XP still and they can sell
more computers.

Yes, because of customers (like myself) ask for it and for what reasons?
And do you really think that Dell won't do their homework except just
following customers' demands? And why is that not the case for earlier
versions (both Windows and Office).

Then again, why would you buy from Dell unless a large corporate
purchasing department that has volume discounts and assigned service as
Dell is getting too expensive especially on anything that is not the base
PC or laptop and they are the king of adding crapware to the machine.

No comment, except this is not an "impulsive" decision such as rushing into
the nearest Best Buy for a copy of new Vista.

For the crapware, it is a common thing, especially for the new Vista
systems. How to deal with it (not just for Dell), refer to this update from
WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/page/8_0004.html?guid={B002D5A0-E52A-4A4B-8F72-C8E78A720CEF}

Hope you can read it since some articles are restricted to subscribers.




"Dave" wrote in message
...
They offer XP because customers are asking for XP still and they can sell
more computers.

This is not a reflection on Vista as there are legitimate reasons to still
run XP rather than Vista.

Then again, why would you buy from Dell unless a large corporate
purchasing department that has volume discounts and assigned service as
Dell is getting too expensive especially on anything that is not the base
PC or laptop and they are the king of adding crapware to the machine.

- Dave

"xfile" wrote in message
...
To certain degree, it is correct if you are a long time customer and
observer of Dell and I am both.

By doing so, it adds extra workload to the configuration and assembly,
and you think Dell will do that for no reasons?


"Plato" |@|.| wrote in message
...
Larry wrote:

Today in a newspaper advertisement for Dell computers directed at
business
customers, the ad gave customers a choice of Windows Vista or Windows
XP for
each computer being offered. I've never seen anything like this
before. In
the past, once a new version of Windows had come out, Dell sold all its
new
computers with the new version.

What this seems to indicate is that Dell is aware of the problems with
Vista
and the unhappiness many users have expressed about it, so they want
to
attract more customers by giving them the option of buying XP.

Incorrect. All it means is Dell is offering a choice of OS's.


--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

"Dave" wrote in message
...
They offer XP because customers are asking for XP still and they can sell
more computers.

This is not a reflection on Vista as there are legitimate reasons to still
run XP rather than Vista.

Then again, why would you buy from Dell unless a large corporate
purchasing department that has volume discounts and assigned service as
Dell is getting too expensive especially on anything that is not the base
PC or laptop and they are the king of adding crapware to the machine.

In my experience with big companies whoever supplies the hardware,
Dell, HP or others, does not supply the OS and certainly no crapware.
We used to just get clean machines and crap them up ourselves
and the licenses were with MS directly.

I recall Dell offering a choice of Windows XP or Windows 2000 for a long
time, until relatively recently, in fact. For the same reason, any vendor
that wants to seriously cater to the business market needs to continue
offering XP for a long time to come. Probably until it reaches "end of
support".

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Today in a newspaper advertisement for Dell computers directed at business
customers, the ad gave customers a choice of Windows Vista or Windows XP
for
each computer being offered. I've never seen anything like this before.
In
the past, once a new version of Windows had come out, Dell sold all its
new
computers with the new version.

What this seems to indicate is that Dell is aware of the problems with
Vista
and the unhappiness many users have expressed about it, so they want to
attract more customers by giving them the option of buying XP.