[Am-info] Dell: no more 'no OS' shipments

[Hans Reiser]

John J. Urbaniak wrote:

>  
>
>I wonder - does IBM sell machines  without a Microsoft OS preloaded?
>Linux maybe?
>
>IBM so-called "support" for Linux may soon be called to appear before
>the Emperor.
>
>If history is any guide, IBM will cave in to Microsoft and drop all
>support for Linux.  They will announce something like "Linux is only for
>our 'top 1000' customers," or some such garbage.  Then all mention of
>Linux will disappear from IBM literature and ads.
>
>All you Linux lovers who are encouraged by IBM's "support" might be
>sensitized to the betrayal we OS/2 lovers received from IBM.
>
>John
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>
>  
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Much as I hope that you are wrong, the same laptop division that 
torpedoed OS/2 has already dropped support for Linux.

If I understand correctly, IBM manages each of these as separate profit 
centers, and their division managers don't have incentives to support 
the company strategic direction in OS matters like Linux and OS/2.  This 
means that the laptop division is not controlled into losing some money 
in the short term by supporting Linux and supporting IBM's ability to 
tell customers that they can choose one OS for all their IBM made 
computers.  I would hazard a guess that Microsoft gave that laptop 
division some incentives to support only MS and not Linux (or OS/2).  I 
would guess that the manager of that division just doesn't give a shit 
about the rest of IBM trying to be the preferred supplier for those who 
want Linux, and he didn't give a shit about that OS/2 division they used 
to have, and maybe he was even eager to sabotage his OS/2 division 
competitor in the race for the CEO slot.

This is why I never give employees metrics that their salaries are 
calculated on.  The metrics acquire an importance that drowns out all 
other considerations.

When I see employees not supporting other employees in my little firm, I 
usually pull out my evil eye look.;-)

Just to make life more complex in the telling of it, let me mention that 
I'd still rather buy from IBM than Dell for Linux laptops.  I have a 
Dell laptop for Linux, and it was a mistake.  At least with IBM you can 
hope that they won't tell you to remove Linux before fixing your broken 
hardware (anybody have experiences with IBM doing that?.... I hope 
not.... ), unlike Dell.

-- 
Hans