What Linux can learn from Microsoft

[Newby]

DakTech eh? I'll have to check them out...

Anyway, I've used OEM copies (my dad had an OEM copy of every M$ OS up to 2K3 Enterprise at one point) and I can safely tell you they have OEM copies of WinXP Pro. Whoever said they didn't needs to die.

[deadly7]

DakTech eh? I'll have to check them out...

Anyway, I've used OEM copies (my dad had an OEM copy of every M$ OS up to 2K3 Enterprise at one point) and I can safely tell you they have OEM copies of WinXP Pro. Whoever said they didn't needs to die.

I never said they didn't.  I said I haven't seen them.

[Sidoh]

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=E1705RFC1&s=dhs

[Chavo]

Haha, that's pretty dumb.  Especially in a situation where someone is managing a bunch of computers, they're going to want to build the OS from scratch so the network is more universal.  This summer, we've signed on a four-year lease for 106 computers from DakTech (that's a lot of a district this size/budget).  They don't have pre-installed OS'.  I don't even know if it was an option.

DakTech is awesome, by the way.  Seven year warranties are amazing.  We have a couple of dual 1.0GHz servers.  One of them had a disk in the RAID that was going bad.  I called them, explained the situation and two days later, there was a new drive in our mailbox.

The contracts normally have to be approved by my boss so that they fit our needs, but this latest batch was more of a spending some money to use up our budget at the end of the fiscal year thing and apparently the department heads were allowed to pick and choose what computers they wanted (inside the contract) rather than letting my boss choose ones that match our existing types :/  Needless to say we were not pleased.

I'll have to look at DakTech, my boss thinks pretty highly of my opinion, so I bet we could get our hands on a couple.

[deadly7]

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=E1705RFC1&s=dhs

Yeah, they allow for it online.  But I've never seen anything different in stores.  I hope you realize that's what I was talking about.

[Sidoh]

The contracts normally have to be approved by my boss so that they fit our needs, but this latest batch was more of a spending some money to use up our budget at the end of the fiscal year thing and apparently the department heads were allowed to pick and choose what computers they wanted (inside the contract) rather than letting my boss choose ones that match our existing types :/  Needless to say we were not pleased.

I'll have to look at DakTech, my boss thinks pretty highly of my opinion, so I bet we could get our hands on a couple.

One of their sales reps (not sure how many they have.  We've had the same 4-6 techs in all the calls we've made there) is really awesome. Stu or something like that, I believe his name is.

Yeah, they allow for it online.  But I've never seen anything different in stores.  I hope you realize that's what I was talking about.

I hope you realize most people order their computers online!

[deadly7]

I hope you realize most people order their computers online!

Liar.

[Sidoh]

Liar.

Haha, seriously.  Even the lady that called me to "fix her printer because it was printing in black and white" ordered hers online. -_-

[iago]

I don't order anything online unless I absolutely have to.  But that varies person to person, I imagine. 

[Sidoh]

I don't order anything online unless I absolutely have to.  But that varies person to person, I imagine. 

Why not? :/

[Chavo]

I don't order anything online unless I absolutely have to.  But that varies person to person, I imagine. 

If you are buying something you know nothing about, it is good to get an opinion from someone that knows what they are talking about, but I can't agree with spending more in a store just to get exactly the same thing when you know precisely what you want.

[Joe]

I don't order anything online unless I absolutely have to.  But that varies person to person, I imagine. 

Why not? :/

Judging by his personality, I'd say he doesn't want his credit card number to get taken.

[Sidoh]

Judging by his personality, I'd say he doesn't want his credit card number to get taken.

If you're smart, even if it does get taken, you don't lose money.

[iago]

If it gets taken, somebody still loses money.  Whether or not it's my money doesn't matter. 

But no, I like the hands-on feel of stores.  I don't buy a monitor until I test it, I don't buy a hammer until I swing it, I don't buy a book till I've flipped through it and maybe read a page or two (in the middle), etc.  When you buy something online, you don't necessarily get what you want. 

I have bought my share of things off eBay, though.  Mostly books, NES games, movies, and other stuff that I can't possibly buy here.  But I don't like doing it, I greatly prefer being able to hold what I'm going to buy. 

Also, I like supporting local companies, where possible.  But that's not a rule, I still buy a lot at Wal-Mart and Chapters.  But that's not my main reason, just a side reason. 

[Joe]

Judging by his personality, I'd say he doesn't want his credit card number to get taken.

If you're smart, even if it does get taken, you don't lose money.

I can't argue with that, but I can say it'll be hell for a while, though. My grandpa got his credit card taken once.

If it gets taken, somebody still loses money.  Whether or not it's my money doesn't matter. 

But no, I like the hands-on feel of stores.  I don't buy a monitor until I test it, I don't buy a hammer until I swing it, I don't buy a book till I've flipped through it and maybe read a page or two (in the middle), etc.  When you buy something online, you don't necessarily get what you want. 

I have bought my share of things off eBay, though.  Mostly books, NES games, movies, and other stuff that I can't possibly buy here.  But I don't like doing it, I greatly prefer being able to hold what I'm going to buy. 

Also, I like supporting local companies, where possible.  But that's not a rule, I still buy a lot at Wal-Mart and Chapters.  But that's not my main reason, just a side reason. 

Those are good reasons, but for the same reason (the "I know what this thing does / is exactly" reason), I'd rather buy things online. Of course, I'm biased, because the first thing I'll do with my paychecks is pay back small debts to various people, and then buy computer parts (and eventually an entire new computer) and you can't exactly do that locally.