making a lot of noise
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| tuxchick Jun 20, 2007 7:53 AM EDT |
Here's this 'story' again. Some things I wonder about: -why did cosgrove72 not escalate to a supervisor? -what's this hooey about they didn't want your business credit card? In all the years I've had both a 'business' and a 'personal' credit card, not one single vendor ever cared which one I used It sounds like one more fanperson leaping onto the Dell pigpile. |
| NoDough Jun 20, 2007 8:00 AM EDT |
I purchased my Dell with a "Business" credit card. |
| bigg Jun 20, 2007 8:08 AM EDT |
What puzzles me a little bit is how they would know it is a business credit card. My guess is that it must have the organization's name on the card, and the Dell representative, well-trained as they tend to be, didn't know how to enter information from a credit card without a person's name on it. In that case, it is always optimal to refuse the order. In my experience, if there are any restrictions on ordering from Dell, they are based on a special contract with Dell (i.e., the business/organization gets a specific selection of systems and options under the contract). Anything on the website is available for anyone or any business, as far as I've seen. |
| dcparris Jun 20, 2007 8:18 AM EDT |
Thanks for your input on this everyone. It didn't make much sense to me. You've saved me an e-mail to Mr. Pope with exactly these kinds of questions. |
| tuxchick Jun 20, 2007 11:53 AM EDT |
Don, since this story is sweeping the Web and leaving untold thousands of readers "going OMG! Now I must also hate Dell!" it might be good to ask your shiny new Dell contacts for a comment. Even if they can't respond about this particular incident, they could say what Dell's policies are. **edit** good grief, this story is being parroted everywhere by Real Journalists who don't bother to ask dell or the OP for comment. Yep, that's what separates Real Journalists from smelly little bloggers and other amateurs! er..yeah! |
| tqk Jun 20, 2007 2:44 PM EDT |
> good grief, this story is being parroted everywhere by Real Journalists The press are whores ... Not to defame prostitutes or anything. |
| Aladdin_Sane Jun 20, 2007 2:46 PM EDT |
Of course, you can buy a Dell system with Linux through Small Business div (RHEL WS). It will be branded "Precision Workstation" but the hardware (at the low end) is the same as a business Optiplex. You can also get an n-Series Optiplex, and put Ubuntu on it. I'd say the Small Bus Rep lost an easy commission. |
| lcafiero Jun 20, 2007 4:26 PM EDT |
An interesting aside: I had been blasting Dell for years and recently said in print -- yes, tqk, I'm a journalist, a copy editor for a daily newspaper, and we're not all whores, ince-freaking-dently -- I'd buy a Dell laptop if I could get Ubuntu on it. They held up their part of the bargain, but when I went to buy one, applying for their on-line credit, apparently I was rejected (reason: No credit history, surprisingly, so off to the bank I went to rectify that). But you might want to give some credit to reports that Dell just might -- just MIGHT -- be throwing up a few more hurdles to those consumers who want a Linux system with the hope that they might just give up and buy Vis-duh. |
| tuxchick Jun 20, 2007 5:22 PM EDT |
"But you might want to give some credit to reports that Dell just might -- just MIGHT -- be throwing up a few more hurdles to those consumers who want a Linux system with the hope that they might just give up and buy Vis-duh." Don't you think a Real Journalist would investigate these reports to see if they had any foundation? Rather than simply repeating them unquestioningly? There's this weird little thing that separates the hacks from the genuine reporters: it's called 'evidence'. Unfortunately a sad minority of the people who consider themselves to be Real Journalists even know what this is. Throwing out random suppositions- "It COULD be true!!" is not journalism. Even more pitiful are all the supposed news publications that simply copied an Ubuntu forum post and presented it as news. |
| lcafiero Jun 20, 2007 7:09 PM EDT |
Of course, a real journalist WOULD investigate these reports. I don't see how the contributor who wrote about his experience to the Ubuntu forum -- not exactly The Wall Street Journal, last time I checked -- can be considered a "journalist." I'd be interested to see any real news reports on this. So far, I haven't seen much. And my point -- which seems to have been missed in the tar-and-feather procession to lead journalists to the gallows one step ahead of the pitchforks -- is that at least two Dell customers -- and maybe only two out of the thousands Dell deals with day in and day out -- are arguably having their proverbial chains yanked by Dell when trying to buy Ubuntu-equipped machines. Maybe it's only two. Maybe it's more. A real journalist would check this out, if s/he were inclined to write a story on it. |
| Aladdin_Sane Jun 20, 2007 8:35 PM EDT |
"The most likely scenario" Quoted from another thread, from dinotrac: "Yeah. I can sort of imagine a low-on-the-totem-pole worker, new to the job, cleaving to the rules a little too tightly. I can't imagine Dell having a policy of actually refusing money." With the turnover rate at that end of the totem pole I'm not real surprised at all. |
| dcparris Jun 21, 2007 8:09 AM EDT |
Icafiero, I think Tuxchick is more concerned with what appears to be parrotting by so-called professionals. No one is showing they've done any actual research into the issue. TC and I both fall into the category of 'journalist' - I certainly don't take umbrage at the remarks she and others have made. That said, I think sweeping generalizations miss important details, generally speaking, of course. ;-) |
| jdixon Jun 21, 2007 9:00 AM EDT |
> That said, I think sweeping generalizations miss important details, generally speaking, of course. ;-) It's always a mistake to overgeneralize... or something like that. :) |
| tqk Jun 21, 2007 11:43 AM EDT |
Quoting:...yes, tqk, I'm a journalist ... Sorry, that was my past talking. I used to go out with one. It was a very interesting day indeed when she assured me that "off the record" was just a figure of speech, if the story was "newsworthy" enough. "Have a nice life, see ya." I'm someone who thinks very highly of things like principles, ethics, integrity and a few other related items. I don't hang around with people who can accept "Situational Ethics" is a meaningful phrase. Sweeping generalizations are always wrong. :-) There's an exception to every rule, and an exception to every exception. Usually. :-) |
| jdixon Jun 21, 2007 11:52 AM EDT |
> I don't hang around with people who can accept "Situational Ethics" is a meaningful phrase. But it IS a meaningful phrase. It means "I don't have any". |
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