[K12OSN] So close....

[Petre Scheie]

David H. Barr wrote:
> On 11/8/06, Accessys at smart.net <accessys at smart.net> wrote:
> 
>> On Wed, 8 Nov 2006, David H. Barr wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > On 11/8/06, marrandy <marrandy at chaossolutions.org> wrote:
>> > > On Wednesday 08 November 2006 10:41, Eric Brown wrote:
>> > > > Our problem with dealing with Dell directly is that they will often
>> > > > quote us higher prices than if we were Joe Public walking in off 
>> the
>> > > > street.  Our principal has even resorted to using his personal 
>> credit
>> > > > card and purchasing computers to save several hundreds of 
>> dollars per
>> > > > machine.
>> >
>> > > How do you save several hundreds ($600/$700/$800) of dollars per 
>> machine ?
>> > > What   'machine'  are you talking about ?
>> >
>> > When I was in the nonprofit sector, I would typically end up a)
>> > determining what spec machine I wanted, b) carting it up in home and
>> > small business desktop and workstation lines, and c) sending the
>> > lowest of those four quotes to my representative who would typically
>> > match or beat it.
>>
>> biggest problem I have with Dell is they will not sell me a machine
>> without software installed, this is especially a problem with laptops
> 
> They -will- sell you a system without a software license, but they
> will -also- charge you extra for the favor.
> 
> http://www.dell.com/nseries for the freeDOS systems (nothing installed).
> 
> The cheapest machine you can get there is about $329 with no floppy or
> optical: celeron, 256MB, 80GB
> The cheapest machine you can get elsewhere is about $279 with optical
> and Windows, sans floppy: sempron, 512MB, 80GB
> 
> My working theory is that Dell gets a kickback from companies that
> make all the pre-installed garbage one has to wipe off first thing.
> 
> -dhbarr.
> 
It's not really a kickback, but rather a price break: MS's standard deal with OEMs is 
"We'll give you a better discount on Windows if you install nothing but Windows, and 
offer no other operating systems.  We'll even help pay for your magazine ads if you 
include the phrase 'We recommend Microsoft Windows XP' in the ads.  And, as this is a 
business/trade secret, you are not allowed to disclose this deal, and if you do, you 
will lose access to all discounts on MS products."  These kind of deals came to light 
during the anti-trust trial.  Since computer dealers see mostly demand for Windows 
anyway, and live with pretty slim margins, accepting this arrangement makes sense. (I 
saw a blog recently that started by asking if the reader knew the difference between a 
web browser and an office suite, and it dawned on me that most people, being 
non-technical, don't.)  The OEMs are in it for the money.  But it's not good for 
computing, and it's not good for everyone at large.

Petre