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Dell could do the whole Japanese-style Just-In-Time inventory management when every box they built was was built-to-order. You want a machine? Order by mail, phone, or now online, and customize it exactly however you want it. Once your order is completed, THEN someone goes through and picks out the processor, the hard disk, the USB ports, the speakers, the graphics card, the memory, etc that you wanted on your custom rig. He puts snaps, plugs, or screws everything into place, and then ships it to you. No hassle, right?
Except, now, everything is laptops. You can't just put together normal-sized parts, because everything needs to be tiny. You have no room for screws in a case less than an inch thick, so you have to solder it in. And you can't just solder shit Just-In-Time, you have to give it some time to cool. You have to test the connections. You have to cram all that customizability into a tiny little notebook-sized square of plastic, and of course that means have every possible configuration of laptop on hand at all times. If you're smart (which you are), you only have a couple of possibilities. Let them choose among 3 or so processors, two hard disks, and a couple choices for memory. Everything is pre-configured according to the model.
If you're stupid, you try to sell laptops the way you sell desktops, like Michael Dell, and fail miserably.
Frigtards that use PC's don't need Moore's Law mandated upgrades to browse Facebook and reply to emails. In fact with storage moving into the clouds they don't need terabytes on the desktop.
Who knew.
Dell was a parasite on IBM and Compaq technical innovation. They focused on process innovation.
Nothing wrong with that! It's an excellent strategy -- as long as you understand what you're doing.
It's very bad form for a parasite to kill its host however. Dell killed the host, and it can't find a new host. (Apple's hardware innovation is too closely tied to the OS to parasitize without access to the OS.
Dell's other mistake, in addition to failing to understand the duties of a good parasite, was that they flushed their innovators. They ought to have come up with a way to keep fifty or so very smart people happy tinkering in labs, so that when they needed to transition to invention and design innovation they had a core group of loyal innovators to build on.
Instead Dell adopted an aggressive downsizing strategy that maximized returns to process managers, and ignored innovators. Good in the short term, but risky. They could have afforded an insurance policy.
Two big mistakes. I'm not so convinced they can't recover, but it is an uphill battle now.
not at all funny though.
Not funny either, though.
Apple didn't go to OSX because it was visionary, it went with it because that's what RSJ was working on before he came back to Apple, and selling NeXT to Apple was a huge mega payday for RSJ.
Apple will become a Windows machine, just give it time- I predict shortly after Jobs is no longer running Apple (I'd say sooner, but I seriously doubt RSJ will ever willingly let Apple stop using NeXT, especially since the people on Apples board came over from NeXT as well).. As Apple has proven with the Leoptard disaster, they can't program their way out of a wet paper bag.
And likewise, NeXT -ALSO- used the same inventory method as Dell does, called "just in time" (JIT), where you acquire the parts when you need them.
Let's face facts here: Apple isn't a software company. They are a hardware company which dabbles (and poorly at that) in software by simple necessity. Microsoft, on the other hand, is a software company (which IMO should dabble more in hardware, since they've done very well during past projects).
And beyond all that, you miss out on what is Dell's TRUE genius. No, it's not what you cited. It's not direct marketting (although that is a positive for them), and it's not their just in time inventorying (also a positive). Their real genius is spending hardly any money on research and development. Dell uses mostly reference designs and standard parts.
Unlike Lenovo, Dell doesn't use substandard parts inside highly customized machines. That's the reason IBM/Lenovo machines need twenty custom craplications just to get the hardware working right. And if you have to rely on IBM's programmers... you've already failed. It's a lot like Apple software in that respect.
Yeah, Apple does good with their hardware. Just don't fool yourself into thinking anyone except hardcore Apple zealots care about (or for) Apple software. Especially seeing how OSX is a scam which charges $150 for a point release service pack, the same kind MS releases for free. And on top of that, Apple can't even admit to all the problems with their OS: good luck with corporate clients with that attitude.
Let's see: iLife is not well written software? Let's compare iMovie to Movie Maker. Wait, there is no comparison. Microsoft's half assed attempt at writing software is *always* laughable. Notepad? Wordpad? the ``applications'' included with the OS(Works anyone?) are paltry at best.
Make no mistake, the ``point'' releases you quip about are indeed *full* OS revisions. Apple releases patches for free when patches are required.
I've not even mentioned the pro apps Apple has: Finalcut, Aperture, Logic, Shake. When's the last time M$ cruft (I'm not talking just about the OS) in a feature length film? (I'm talking utside of the redmond campus wiseguy)
Just don't fool yourself into thinking anyone except hardcore Apple zealots care about (or for) Apple software.
We don't care. Then again, there's a massive amount of 3rd party software for Windows, unlike OSX. We don't have to rely on what Microsoft puts in the box, because unlike Apple, Microsoft treats developers well.
Apple releases several software updates for FREE. It would be nice MicroTard boy if you knew what you were talking about. How can you even compare Windows to OSX? On Windows you have how many thousands of viruses, trojans, spyware, and crapware infecting it? Compare that to ZIP for Mac.
How many do I have? Zero.
But no wonder you switched to OSX- if I spent 15 years on a job and still sucked at it... I'd be looking to switch too.
It's not Microsoft's fault you suck.
If you are trying to be funny a la 'Zune Tang' at MDN, you need to quit now before you make yourself look even more of a zunetard than you already have.
You should spend less time reading through my post history, and more time learning about this tech stuff so you can begin forming well thought out opinions, rather than zealotry driven crap.
In a way, FSJ isn't a parody of RSJ, he's a parody of what Apple faithful believe about FSJ, and about how phony and superfiscial THEY are. FSJ is just like them, in many ways.
from postoffice.lan [10.0.0.1]
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<jackholland@mac.com>
-----Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to postoffice.lan.:
I meant to say FSJ is a parody of what Apple faithful believe about RSJ (not FSJ, as I mistakenly wrote).
http://www.economist.com/people/displaystory.cf...
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9939821-7.html...
send my regards to curly & shemp
A little over a week ago you were criticizing FSJ's good buddy Larry for all the bacon he brought home and put on his family (as they say in Oklahoma). You had the numbers there to prove your point: Oracle's stock price at two year intervals. However, what you forgot was to figure in the stock splits, and this was pointed out in the comments. Did you apologize for the goof? No, you ranted about the "trolls" attacking you and claimed your point still stands, even after your evidence was demolished.
Did you ever wonder why "Nobody asks you"? It's because you're full of shit, your insights are unoriginal and facile, and you're too dumb to accept correction, i.e., you're unteachable.
Take a cue from the aforementioned Dan Lyons. Dan was a hack journalist, but he was smart enough to realize this, so he made a career change and became a satirist. Turns out he is one of the best satirists on the planet. Also, I imagine he is much happier now, since he is using a talent at which he excels and not just churning out crap for a paycheck. If you were teachable, Coop, you'd take this lesson to heart and look into a career bagging groceries.
PS: FSJ, I understand that you know Dan Lyons slightly. Next time you cross his path, urge him to branch out into novels. I could see him as a 21st Century Tom Wolfe, only better.
II.)How Dell could turnaround and get on top.
a)Start looking for an all around visionary, an artist, not a bullshit artist, an artiste who will front and lead company.
b)Wean itself from Microsoft or go cold turkey. Develop its own OS based on BSD or Open Solaris geared towards Dell hardware equipment and configurations. Use and promote freetard software, but develop a top-notch software team within.
c)Hire someone who knows a lot about design. Preferably Italian, Swiss or British. Fuck the French, Germans, Scandinavians and Greeks. Maybe a Japanese.
d)Don't portray yourselves in marketing as follower of trend or a leader in field. Portray your company and yourself as an iconoclast.
e)Form partnerships. Screw them and embrace them often. Always be the one who has hand in relationship.
f)Be secretive.To the point of paranoid. Announce products only when they're shipping out the door.
g)Be vindictive.
h)Don't mollycoddle your employees. Make them earn your love.
i)Hire some hack from Fortune to impersonate your iconoclast in a fake blog.
III.)You're right, Dell is Gateway right now. If it doesn't begin to turnaround in next six quarters, it's time to go looking for a buyer.
IV.)Happy Mother's Day!
And let's also not forget the crowning irony of Dell's position at the top of the direct sales heap: the original version of the dell.com store website was written in... WebObjects. And continued to be for much longer than anyone at Dell was ever willing to admit in public, despite massive infusions of cash and manpower from Microsoft to convert them over to ASP.
Dell is Gateway.
Who is Dell ! ?
(A decade after)
Who was Dell ! ?
But for those of us who say Apple for what it was in 1997, won't be too worried. He's done a great job for us.
I knew in the late 90's when Apple was running those crazy "Think Different" Ads that Jobs was special.
Agree with your article. Never liked Dell and don't expect them to rebound.
What killed DELL are unportable laptops. They suffered from too many design problems, crappy plastic, laptop obesity and caused serious muscle strain to their owners. Have you ever ran with that thing from gate to gate at the airport.? Sell your Bowflex, here comes the DELL laptop workout. Absolutely horrendous.
Now, DELL started copying SONY (another crappy laptop) and Mac (by design) but it is too late. We have moved on.
Dan, stick to writing retarded articles about how bloggs are evil!
And it was a matter of time before they got to where they are now; stuck and the in the crapper.
Yes, innovation, in product and design, and investment on R&D, is what sets companies apart...
...and Dell is going to get acquired (or merge with some other company)...
...maybe acquired by a Chinese company....
~5 years...
ceo
"Jesus! You have ALL your money in Dell stock? You should diversify a bit..."
"Screw you! Brokers and financial advisors keep telling me that, they're all a bunch of idiots!"
Anytime I hear a story like this I get a feeling of deja vu. 10 years ago -- Dell could do no wrong. Apple was a turd in the punchbowl back then. How times change.
Dell made some good decisions back then. They did the Dell website -- the easiest direct buy option out there on the internet. They also partnered with the large corps and provided enterprise solutions the way IBM (another "could do no wrong" company) did in the 70's and Compaq did in the early 90's. In the early 2000's you could have Dell provide your imaged servers and workstations and even do a good chunk of your tech support.
Then - the same thing happened to Dell that happens to so many companies -- they started focusing on short term returns, let the finance dweebs make too many decisions -- and shot themselves in the (insert body part here). No innovation. Cutting tech support to all part timers with resultant huge turnover and massive customer discontent. Clunky designs. And then Vista. Vista effectively stalled the corporate upgrade cycle that is so important to Dell. Companies are holding off. Why stick your (insert body part) into a blender if you can wait a while for MS to get their stuff together?
Good analysis and I agree that Dell will have a hard time recovering. They will probably have to merge -- when the corporate VP level brain-trusts realize they are in trouble, they think merger so that they can transfer any resulting value left in the company into their pockets Just wait and see.
Back to my original point -- Apple is the current darling. Companies can take and hold the initiative for a while and hold it - especially if they are built around a strong leader. If conditions change and the leader does not adapt -- they're screwed. If the leader leaves and they have no succession plan -- they're screwed. If the leader gets taken out by an "accident" (for you conspiracy types) -- they're screwed. If the finance geeks get too much influence and start the down the "cost containment" spiral -- they're screwed...
Apple is on top now. How long they will remain there -- that is the 10,000 dollar question.
(Sorry for the gloomy post. I forgot my lithium)
Bing!Bing!Bing!
Bong!Bong!Bong!
But couldn't you have done this in the Poetry Corner?
"sometimes i feel like pablo picasso"?
While Dell created one distribution platform when it bypassed wholesalers and retailers, Apple was forced to create several distribution platforms. First it went direct via the Apple retail stores and Apple online store. Then it built another channel in the form of iTunes, which has been successfully leveraged to deliver far more than music. Now Apple is moving aggressively into distribution via its iPhone platform. If Apple's App Store is successful, Apple will have succeeded in going around the backs of software wholesalers and retailers as well as the mobile carriers.
Apple now sells widgets, multimedia content, and software through a variety of channels, all of which bypass third parties completely and are mutually reinforcing.
Dell sells widgets direct, but depends on another company for the software half of the widget. Despite all of the deserved hoopla about Apple's design prowess, that's only half of Apple's innovation.
As Donald Trump would put it: "People pay 100 million dollars for my building not because I built it, but because its a good building. People pay far less for someone else's because their building isn't as good a building."
Better Product > Customer Wrangling. Pure and simple. Why? Cause customers aren't all dumb folk.
It's only fair.
It's only fair.
No, much of my purchase decisions aren't based on price. If that was the determination I'd be shopping at Walmart and using a Dell or a Gateway. As I don't do either, where does that leave us now? I buy Apple hardware Mr. Howser, so I guess I'm not shopping at Target either.
(Don't send Moshe - imitation cringely told me, hit him hit him - oh, hi Moshe, please don't, not the face - OOOOMPH !!!!
(weakly) thank you ... I think ... uuuuhhhh!)
Stop punching me now ... pant ... gasp ... Krazit ... Tom Krazit ... go ... beat ... him ... passes out
I still maintain the opinion that their product support, including the online side of things, is toward the top as far as PC manufacturers go. And they did just come out with the 'One' that was critically well received, even from Goatberg, who said it's hardware was as good or better than iMac's.
Vista is already looking somewhat better thanks to SP1, and can only improve from here on it with additional updates. That included with a couple more product updates like the 'One' (they're due for an overhaul on the notebook side of things) and Dell will be fine.
cnet, that is so 20th century.
Speaking of Microsoft incompetence. Their own promotional material seems to lack a bit of.. well.. proofreading..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuS7Pes2XMU
Umm, the allman brothers never sang that song, its a Bob Dylan song called Subterranean Homesick Blues
Joe K
http://neoviky.blogspot.com/2008/05/google-is-d...
and this one for the relatively smart ones....
http://neoviky.blogspot.com/2008/05/stupid-peop...
Vikram
The world is going east.... I wonder when the USA will actually come to terms with the fact that they are being out branded by China and the EU`?
HAhahahahha..
"Traction" as in all the unlocked phones being sold in markets Apple hasn't been able to establish marketing agreements -yet-...?
"Traction" as in all the countries which have people complaining that a version of the iTunes store isn't available -yet-...?
Cults can do well everywhere.
Setting-up the infrastructure which allows the kind of user experience needed to perpetuate a cult is what takes time.
Shows you're as ignorant and close-minded as you like to think all Americans are. Four words show your intellectual immaturity and invalidate the rest of your rather uninteresting observations.
China is getting a graduate course in branding from the US companies that are outsourcing everything not bolted down to both India and China. It is being done on-shore here in the US and offshore by hordes of low cost workers and "knowledge workers". You are seeing the result in a company like Dell, which is just a shell of a company now. There is NO IP there is there? Just a name. It is ok for Michael Dell other than the hit to his ego, for from a bottom line perspective, he an his relatives will never have to work again anyway. For his employees? They are circling around the event horizon. Anything and everything they have is now in China. All their design, manufacturing, IT, engineering work. This is being played out ALL over Silicon Valley. The VPs and above are strip mining their own companies. In 5-10 years there will be very few people left who are American employees doing any meaningful work. All in the name of chasing the lowest labor cost. At that point you've turned your company into a name only. You have nothing left. You can thank Neutron Jack Welch and Accenture for this state of affairs, as this country hands over all its know how to India and China and somehow doesn't care that they are teaching their competitors exactly how to destroy them. Willingly. And with great abandon. Just pathetic and depressing.