ZaReason (http://www.zareason.com)
System76 (http://www.system76.com)

Both of these companies offer and support preinstalled Ubuntu systems and make this their business. If you don’t like or trust Dell (or HP), then check these two out. I learned about them from the Blog of Helios (http://www.lobby4linux.com).

Another alternative is to simply head to your local computer store and have them build you one. Yes, such shops continue to exist and even thrive. The benefit is that, if you wish, you actually get to choose your specific hardware components (motherboard, NIC, etc.). You can also choose your OS; you can have them install it, or you can do so yourself.

–SYG

The problem may not even be product centric but may have more to do with the brands perception in the consumers mind..Having been in the eye of the storm one too many times, Dell is susceptible to attacks even for the minutest errors and not to forget, negative news makes good headlines.

In this era of social media, the consumer is unforgiving and brands have to work that extra bit to build and maintain traction. While Dell has, to its credit already adopted a slew of consumer centric properties, it may still need to realise that adoption of social media implies a paradigm shift in a company’s communication policies. Ability to chew the bitter sweet pill with grace is a part of the parcel. Dell would have built more credit for itself if it had chosen to positively participate or steer clear from the conversation, rather than seek removal of the post. In this networked era, word gets out rapidly and there is no real delete button. It seems they probably hit the panic button before understanding the impact of its actions.

On the other hand, this case raises another concern. If ex-employees, having been in positions of power and knowledge begin to openly provide insider information in public domain, how are companies going to manage in the future? While in the case of Dell, the info may not have been sensitive, in other cases, such a thing could amount to holding a company at ransom. Possibly, growing adoption and dependance on social media could also give rise to a set of users whose only agenda is to malign and degrade brands..

Major points to Dell for not imposing the “Windows Tax” on everyone. U.S. customers who opt for Ubuntu Linux (3 models) or FreeDOS (a few more models) don’t have to pay for Microsoft Windows that they won’t use. Choice; what a concept!

I’m with you on the transparancy issue.

My first one, a Latitude, (Windows 95 machine) worked perfectly until I allowed my then-third-grader to take it to school for a presentation. He got it home safely, but left it on the edge of the kitchen table, it fell to the tile floor, the CD drive popped out and the ribbon cable looked like it had torn off. The machine looked mangled. It wouldn’t boot - I thought it was a goner. I finally realized that I couldn’t hurt it, since it was already broken, so I took it apart and looked more closely at the CD tray. The ribbon cable was not torn, it had just come unplugged from the clamp that holds it. I reclamped it, then gave a healthy shove to the CD tray to put it back in. Voila! Booted up and ran perfectly until I was in a wreck and it went flying. Even with a cracked screen, it booted fine. I bought a couple of “parts only” Latitudes from eBay to try to fix it. It started working again. All the software changes finally made a Win 95 machine obsolete, so I quit using it.

This is why I’m a die-hard Dell buyer. If you can drop a Dell laptop on a tile floor, and it keeps on working, you should have a very good reason to buy some other brand. Of course, since all my used machines have run perfectly, I’ve never had to deal with any Customer Service reps. Maybe when I get my new one I’ll have the problems everyone else seems to have, but hey, if a machine never has problems, you never have to call Customer Support, do you?

Dell is a victim of its own success. Becoming a big corporation means that the company is likely to view its customers as foes, rather than allies. Financing was formerly a way to help more people afford Dell’s products, but is now a separate profit center. Their best bet now is to jettison DFS and let the market provide financing. DFS is driving away repeat business, as people burned by DFS resolve to avoid Dell.

Even Dell’s Linux and OpenOffice moves (the things they learned from IdeaStorm) are too tentative for the audience they hope to reach. In a market that is eagerly seeking alternatives to Vista, Dell is throwing away the chance to be *the* new PC option for non-Vistalistas.

I do agree that Dell is taking some steps in the right direction, but at other times, like this newest Consumerist flap, they’re still the same ol’ Dell.

And I have to say that Lionel Menchaca’s mea clupa doesn’t ring with sincerity as much as it rings with, uh, thoroughly-vetted spin.

I’d like to see Dell return to better days and better relations with consumers, but then again I’d like to see Google or Tivo return to being responsible corporate citizens. I don’t think behemoths can be as good as they were in the past, although they may become more influential in appearance management.

And as long as my most effective weapon is my wallet, I intend to use it. Pay attention Messrs. Menchaca and Dell.

I think Dell is like many companies, in that the balance of power has just been violently shoved in the customer’s direction, and they didn’t get the memo. So they are struggling to come to grips with this new reality, while wanting to cling to the old.

But you mentioned that “If other companies are smart, they’re sitting back and watching…”

I think the smart companies are the ones that are in these waters and making smallish missteps now, as those errors will be whoppers if they sit back watching long enough.

I think Dell deserves criticism when they make missteps with social media, as does any other company. But I think we also owe it to them, ourselves, and this medium, to make sure that the criticism is constructive, and tempered with the knowledge that that are at least in these waters.

I found Dell’s website, which should make the experience easier, made it more difficult! Choices of configurations were often arbitrary. This machine could have any Vista - except Home Premium… the one I wanted.

I’m a stockholder. I want Dell to do better. i don’t want customers to think of them as putzes

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/06/16/18397.aspx

I’m tracking the whole saga (or at least the highlights) from this post

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/02/25/social-media-saga-continues-as-company-advances-towards-dell-swell/

To give another example of Dell’s responsiveness, have a look at Mack Collier’s post about Dell’s blog (and again, the comments by the Dell reps): http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2007/06/company-blog-checkup-dell.html