Good job Dell

[EKKC]

I was playing around with configuring a Precision 390 at the small business site and found this while on one of the config pages:

Quickly configure frequently used options and settings.
Hide Microsoft Outlook Express [$2]
Remove Microsoft Games [$2]
Hide Microsoft Legacy Communications [$2]
Enable Wake-on-LAN [$10]
Enable Auto-On [$10]

charging 10 dollars to simply enable WOL? 2 dollars to remove my MS Games? holy crap!

 

[sygyzy]

They started a trend? When did they start doing this and who are the other companies that started doing this after they started it?

 

[loup garou]

I noticed that a couple weeks ago as well. At first I thought it was crappy, but it may help to bump a price up by a little to apply a coupon!

 

[EKKC]

im just saying. i bet you lenovo or whatever will follow suit with crap like this:

"Windows Preinstalled" $50
"Windows Defender installed" $5 (subscription extra)

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

makes sense....I imagine corporate users spend quite a bit of resources in doing small tweaks that they would gladly pay a couple of bucks for. If you had 100 laptops, $200 is cheap to get them configured.

 

[Ayah]

Bahahahahahahahaahaha. ROFL.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: loup garou
I noticed that a couple weeks ago as well. At first I thought it was crappy, but it may help to bump a price up by a little to apply a coupon!

:light:
:shocked:

Brilliant!!!

 

[vi edit]

"Have it your way"

Oh wait...that's a Whopper from BK. My bad.

Most places that I've worked went ahead and just slapped a corporate image on any box that they got in.

 

[MrPickins]

Meh, either people will pay it, or they won't.
More options are a good thing.

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: MrPickins
Meh, either people will pay it, or they won't.
More options are a good thing.

until they have them enabled by default... that would suck

 

[Yreka]

Do they give you an option to opt out on all that trialware $hit that comes installed on their new systems ?

I'd buy that for a dollar.

 

[compnovice]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: loup garou
I noticed that a couple weeks ago as well. At first I thought it was crappy, but it may help to bump a price up by a little to apply a coupon!

:light:
:shocked:

Brilliant!!!

shhhhh.. don't let them know....

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: Yreka
Do they give you an option to opt out on all that trialware $hit that comes installed on their new systems ?

I'd buy that for a dollar.

i think there's a dell decraptifier or something that worked fairly well (used it on a system i bought for someone, personally i always do fresh installs myself, add some drivers, and then ghost that for easy restore)

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: loup garou
I noticed that a couple weeks ago as well. At first I thought it was crappy, but it may help to bump a price up by a little to apply a coupon!

:light:
:shocked:

Brilliant!!!

:thumbsup:

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Yreka
Do they give you an option to opt out on all that trialware $hit that comes installed on their new systems ?

I'd buy that for a dollar.

*ding* Winnarrrr! Fire up a brand new Dell desktop and the system tray extends halfway across the taskbar w/all that crap. :roll:

 

[Wreckem]

Wow y'all just noticed this?

They have been doing this for months.

 

[Bateluer]

So . . .if you choose not to have them do any of those 'trivial' tasks, does it make the system cheaper?

 

[Homerboy]

you can opt out of trialware.
Dell bashing by ignorance is stupid.
I just ordered 2 Dells today (my 20th+) . They will come with NO trial ware...

paying to turn off/on those features certainly makes sense. I did some install work for a small company that ordered 6 new PCs from Dell. First thing I had to do was remove all that junk, turn on other things. At $65/hr it certainly would have paid for them to take some of those options.

Rest assure members of ATOT, there are users out there that "need" these features and will make their lives easier/less expensive in the long run.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Yreka
Do they give you an option to opt out on all that trialware $hit that comes installed on their new systems ?

I'd buy that for a dollar.

Don't buy a machine from the Home store and you won't have that problem.

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
makes sense....I imagine corporate users spend quite a bit of resources in doing small tweaks that they would gladly pay a couple of bucks for. If you had 100 laptops, $200 is cheap to get them configured.

They should seperate this from their consumer computers.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
makes sense....I imagine corporate users spend quite a bit of resources in doing small tweaks that they would gladly pay a couple of bucks for. If you had 100 laptops, $200 is cheap to get them configured.

That's what I was thinking, for some companies this could work well because they wouldn't have to let the crappy IT department moan and groan about this in addition to whatever else they already moan and groan about.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: foghorn67

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
makes sense....I imagine corporate users spend quite a bit of resources in doing small tweaks that they would gladly pay a couple of bucks for. If you had 100 laptops, $200 is cheap to get them configured.

They should seperate this from their consumer computers.

It is.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
makes sense....I imagine corporate users spend quite a bit of resources in doing small tweaks that they would gladly pay a couple of bucks for. If you had 100 laptops, $200 is cheap to get them configured.

That's what I was thinking, for some companies this could work well because they wouldn't have to let the crappy IT department moan and groan about this in addition to whatever else they already moan and groan about.

When you order any OptiPlex (or better) workstaton you can simply say "don't give me the crap" and you won't get it. In fact I think its more of a default undestanding that business class PCs don't come with that. Now home use PCs likely do by default.

 

[MX2]

Well, they are losing ground making money like they use to on the hardware side of things, so this is not surprising

 

[Yreka]

Yes, silly me advising people to buy a computer for their HOME from the HOME store.. Or a Workstation for their 2 man office from the SMALL BUSINESS store. I guess I am the problem.

The trailware is far from helpful, its borderline malware. This shizen they are putting on now is AOL grade crap, I dont think most people on the board realize it because they know enough to get rid of it before it becomes an issue.

Once the trial period expires, you are presented with a nag screen to buy the software each time you boot up. In some cases, you can't even uninstall it by traditional means. Calling Dell "support" will net you a response of "If you want to get rid of the nag screens, buy the software". ( Yes, this happened to 2 different people I know personally).

Don't get me wrong, I certainly dont want any fangirls to get ther dell boxer blues in a bunch. Other than this one issue, I like Dell just fine. I just don't see why they need to make people know a "secret handshake" or location of a super secret store to order a computer. Why not just give them an option to opt out for that crap regardless of what computer they buy, or what store they buy it from? (Besides the obvious.. Enabling people who know said secrets to act smugly on the internet)

I shoudn't have to re-image the drive on a brand new computer, or load special software just to remove "special software" I didnt want in the first place.