OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/26700/Dell_said_to_be_in_buyout_talks_with_private-equity_firms Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Wed, 22 May 2013 18:02:05 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com Vulture capitalists? http://www.osnews.com/thread?548806 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548806 So Dell is going to be chopped up and have all of it's employees thrown out without so much as a 2 weeks notice?Edited 2013-01-15 06:38 UTC Tue, 15 Jan 2013 06:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kivada) Comments I don't get this http://www.osnews.com/thread?548808 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548808 It's really not like me to defend Dell of all companies, but I really don't get this.

I remember seeing a graph a few weeks ago in some other story about this topic, but I have no idea where I saw it. It showed that Dell's market cap had fallen by about a third, but sales were relatively flat. They were down by low single digits year over year.

I know sales aren't indicative of profit, but for a pretty mature company like Dell, I'd think if their sales are steady they should be good. So what gives? Are they suddenly mismanaging money? Is previous mismanagement suddenly being discovered? Or is this speculation?

Even though they may be projected to ship fewer boxes in the future, Dell gets a good chunk of cash from organizational support contracts. And afaik, those aren't really in danger.

Can anyone explain? I'm basing off of experience working with Dell about 5 years ago. Have things changed that much? Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (justSomeGuy) Comments Comment by Luminair http://www.osnews.com/thread?548809 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548809 Dell doesn't really innovate or lead in anything. That just means they'll get beat up if anything changes, which it has and they have

There is still market room for good standards-based hardware, it just can't be a beige box forever

Asus, razr, and other little PC makers have grown large from nothing because they did something. What has dell done. Dell done shit Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Luminair) Comments sad http://www.osnews.com/thread?548819 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548819 Is there any company with normal boxes like Dell? I have some of these, including two older PIII1000 and they are working like horses. And keyboards are awesome.

I think Dell have Sun's syndrome. They make too good products.Edited 2013-01-15 08:39 UTC Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (SeeM) Comments RE: Comment by Luminair http://www.osnews.com/thread?548821 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548821 Bought last year 3 laptops, Dell Vostro 3555 with AMD APU A8-3500M with integrated GPU Radeon HD 6620G. This beast have everything you can expect : USB 3, BlueTooth, Wifi-N, Ethernet Gigabit, eSata, HDMI, VGA, SDHC, ExpressCard 34mm, antiglare screen, ...

The problem is the hardware support of parts. One year after, it's hardly even possible to get them a back-lit keyboard that was not available at time of purchase. And when they finally found some, it's out of guarantee so with higher price, and they even fail to make a correct invoice (I asked for 2, they make the first with 1, the second with 3)

And since then, they ditched away the AMD APUs altogether. So no more Dell hardware for me, thanks. Otherwise they are very good machines, as well conceived than Apple's hardware, very neat engineering. Perhaps outsourced to Foxxcon as well ?

Kochise Tue, 15 Jan 2013 09:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kochise) Comments RE: I don't get this http://www.osnews.com/thread?548827 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548827 I'm not an economist, but the idea seems to be that a company like Dell is an interesting target for private-equity firms, just because it offers a solid base (stable sales and stock valuation) in a declining market (which enhances the vulnerability of competing companies in this market). With enough fresh higher-risk capital it can be turned into (or even broken up into) one or more smaller parts that each can pursue a more aggressive expansion strategy with a higher valuation.

For a less mature company or in a stable or growing market the risks of such a disruptive strategy might not way up to the potential return on investment. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (boblowski) Comments Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548833 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548833 "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,"
Michael Dell, October 1997. about Apple Computer

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203937.html


Michael Dell, year ago about Apple:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3YDKONQfis (1:30) Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kovacm) Comments RE: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548836 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548836 This is why I hate shareholders' driven decisions.

There are many companies that get destroyed just because their current profit level is not in sync with shareholders wishes. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moondevil) Comments RE: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548840 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548840 People should really stop bringing that up. Apple WAS dead. The ONLY reason it came back to life was Jobs. That's it.

Nobody could've seen that coming. Stop trying to make it seem as if Dell was some sort of rambling idiot - he was exactly right at the time. It's easy and cheap to look back 16 years and claim smug superiority. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 11:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom_Holwerda) Comments Dell oh Dell http://www.osnews.com/thread?548846 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548846 Dell started by manufacturing their own. They then outsourced production to cut costs - it was all the rage and all good business schools were recommending it.

Roll on a few years; Asus had the outsourcing contracts and have gone on to use their own branding to eat Dell's lunch and dinner. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ameasures) Comments RE[2]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548858 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548858 There are lots of people that only know the Mac OS X Apple it seems. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moondevil) Comments RE: I don't get this http://www.osnews.com/thread?548862 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548862 Share prices are based on prospects for future growth. Dell has limited prospects for growth so its share price suffers. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSbunny) Comments RE: sad http://www.osnews.com/thread?548872 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548872
Is there any company with normal boxes like Dell? I have some of these, including two older PIII1000 and they are working like horses. And keyboards are awesome.


Yeah, that was Dell five years ago. Have you had the misfortune to deal with any of Dell's more recent consumer-oriented hardware? Those things absolutely do not work like horses. Cost-cutting components, bad drivers, awful service, poor case designs that result in overheating, etc. You can still get good Dell hardware, but only if you buy their business class products which are far more expensive than the cheap hardware most associate with the company. If you buy a consumer-grade Dell now, expect it to last a year and then develop problems and, unless you're competent to fix it yourself (which I'm guessing most visitors to this site are), you're going to get the endless runaround when you want them to fix it under warranty. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (darknexus) Comments RE[2]: sad http://www.osnews.com/thread?548873 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548873 I've actually had very good experiences with Dells warranty support. I have 3 Dells in the house, 2 laptops and a desktop, all older now, and when the hard drive died in the desktop, Dell had no problem shipping me a new one, and letting me ship the old one back.

I expected arguments, having to reinstall Vista, all the normal support bullshit. They surprised me. The phone call itself took less then 20 minutes.

I have been buying Dell laptops for years now, because I love their financing, easy, quick, and if you pay it off before the term, no interest. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (BluenoseJake) Comments RE[3]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548883 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548883
There are lots of people that only know the Mac OS X Apple it seems.

and it seems that lots of people do not know for computers that had badged from my avatar ;) Edited 2013-01-15 16:51 UTC Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kovacm) Comments RE[4]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548891 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548891 I miss those days. ;) Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moondevil) Comments RE[4]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548895 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548895 Bonus trivia:

What does "atari" mean? Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (MOS6510) Comments RE[5]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548898 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548898 Ironically, I learned the meaning of "atari" in high school and it took me about three years before events made me stop to consider that, maybe, the company I'd vaguely heard of while playing NES and SNES games as a young child might have chosen that name because it was a pre-existing word.

...but then that's the problem with getting familiar with words at a young age. You often forget to re-evaluate them once you're old enough to appreciate their context.Edited 2013-01-15 19:41 UTC Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ssokolow) Comments RE[6]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548900 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548900 Atari was well known when I grew up, but long after their demise did I learn the meaning.

Well, we had no Wikipedia or Internet access back then.

If anyone of you is bored it can be fun to find out how companies got their names. Epson, Sharp and Sony are very nice ones. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (MOS6510) Comments RE[2]: sad http://www.osnews.com/thread?548902 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548902 Depends whether it is business line or a consumer line. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lucas_maximus) Comments RE[5]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548907 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548907
Bonus trivia:

What does "atari" mean?


touché! ;)

I mention Atari in response to Thom: "People should really stop bringing that up. Apple WAS dead." - yes, for most people Apple was on exactly same path as Atari, Commodore, IBM (in PC sector), NeXT, SUN, SGi... and all other GREAT companies... and before that, it was truly amazing time until...

...they all went down thanks to Microsoft (and sheep-like users)!

but Apple/Steve Jobs prove that MIRACLES are possible ;)
- return of Apple to mainstream computing AND beginning of Microsoft downfall today is biggest thing ever happened in computer world for last three decades ;)

...and I am very happy that WORLD finally recognized RIGHT path!


for end, let me quote Douglas Adams which beautifully illustrate 80s and 90s:

"The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he, by peddling second rate technology, led them into it in the first place, and continues to do so today."Edited 2013-01-15 20:29 UTC Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kovacm) Comments RE[6]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548912 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548912 I agree, with one exception: NeXT wasn't really a great company. They had some interesting ideas and technology, but could barely shed their start-up skin.

It was a rather small company. If it hadn't been for Steve Jobs and his return to Apple I suspect most people would never have known about it. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (MOS6510) Comments RE[7]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548918 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548918 My graduation project was to port a graphics framework from the (evaluated as) defunct NeXTSTEP (Objective-C) to the newly shiny Windows 98 (C++). Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moondevil) Comments RE[6]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?548919 http://www.osnews.com/thread?548919 I don't know how bad this would influence computer prices, because PC OEM were the ones driving them down.

But I really miss the Software+Hardware (without bloatware) experience that the other systems had, before the PC became the only game in town.

Sure it has portability issues, as the older from us can remember, or see again in the mobile space. On the other hand it really forces everyone, even against their will, to play nicer with each other in data formats. Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moondevil) Comments RE[2]: sad http://www.osnews.com/thread?549060 http://www.osnews.com/thread?549060 My XPS 15 laptop is solid. Works great, too.

Well, I had a DVD drive issue, and at first they wanted to claim it was a software issue (And, thus, something I did), but after I politely insisted it wasn't, they overnighted me a box to send it, and a week later it had been repaired. Wed, 16 Jan 2013 19:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Drumhellar) Comments RE[7]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?549271 http://www.osnews.com/thread?549271
NeXT [...] was a rather small company. If it hadn't been for Steve Jobs and his return to Apple I suspect most people would never have known about it.

I think most people don't know about NeXT, anyway - only ~geeks do.

But there's one thing for which we would remember it even without the return of Steve Jobs to Apple: WWW started on a NeXT machine. Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (zima) Comments RE[8]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?549272 http://www.osnews.com/thread?549272 With such experience, you could help GNUstep I guess? ;p Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (zima) Comments RE[8]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?549273 http://www.osnews.com/thread?549273 Yeah, but that' still geeks only knowledge.

Also I don't think a NeXT machine was really needed, any other networked computer would have made it possible too.

Interestingly Apple had and got rid of HyperCard, which could have served as the foundation of a hyperlinking Internet. Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (MOS6510) Comments RE[5]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?549274 http://www.osnews.com/thread?549274
I miss those days. ;)

Finally with a ";)" ...did my pointing out 80s wasn't all roses worked? ;p Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (zima) Comments RE[9]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?549276 http://www.osnews.com/thread?549276
Yeah, but that' still geeks only knowledge.

That was my point, "we" ~= geeks. And while NeXT machine wasn't strictly needed, that's what was used and hence can be remembered. :p

But BTW, it looks like it perhaps had some influence on how HTML looks... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldWideWeb#Technical_information

WRT HyperCard, you might be interested in those two links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ViolaWWW#Background
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_web_browser#1980s_to_ea... Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (zima) Comments RE[10]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?549301 http://www.osnews.com/thread?549301 Never mind that. I have this week off to clean the garage, shed, attic and other rooms. In the attic I found an original tape that says "BASICODE 2". it was released in June 1984.

Side one has "translation programs" and a number of systems are listed.

Side two contains "example programs".

https://twitter.com/wettingfeld/status/292337677951438848/photo/1

I think it comes from a box of Commodore 64 stuff someone once gave to me many years ago. Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (MOS6510) Comments RE[9]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?549407 http://www.osnews.com/thread?549407 I have to admire the GNUStep guys as they seem to been doing their work since I can remember Linux exists, or even earlier.

Also a constant presence at FOSDEM.

However I am not that big fan of Objective-C. Sat, 19 Jan 2013 07:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moondevil) Comments RE[6]: Comment by kovacm http://www.osnews.com/thread?549954 http://www.osnews.com/thread?549954 kovacm, you are detached from reality. ALL custom platforms died out, also Macintoshes (they are now completely generic PCs under the hood, with mostly generic software).

Wintel ecosystem was and is simply better than those "GREAT companies" http://www.osnews.com/thread?522221 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (zima) Comments