Interesting Memo
 

An interesting memo went out to Dell employees this last week that says
future Inspiron and Dimension systems that ship with CDRW or DVD+-RW
drives in them will no longer include ANY media of any kind.

When you first start the system you will be given an option to burn an
image to CD or DVD for re-install. If you call Dell Support within the
21-day satisfaction period you can ask to have media discs shipped to
you. After that they can only ship media under extreme circumstances.

In fact, I was told, it would be easier for a tech to ship you a new
hard drive with a PC-Restore image on it so that you can make your own
discs again than it would be to ship you the media.

Dell is moving towards a "Zero Media Policy" and "rumour" is that all
software will be sold as downloadable with a $10 to $20 fee if you want
the software shipped on media.

It's gonna get interesting.

when I ordered my M60 Feb 2004 I paid for the media to be supplied so it's
not a new move...........


"Brad Licatesi" wrote in message
.net...
An interesting memo went out to Dell employees this last week that says
future Inspiron and Dimension systems that ship with CDRW or DVD+-RW
drives in them will no longer include ANY media of any kind.

When you first start the system you will be given an option to burn an
image to CD or DVD for re-install. If you call Dell Support within the
21-day satisfaction period you can ask to have media discs shipped to
you. After that they can only ship media under extreme circumstances.

In fact, I was told, it would be easier for a tech to ship you a new
hard drive with a PC-Restore image on it so that you can make your own
discs again than it would be to ship you the media.

Dell is moving towards a "Zero Media Policy" and "rumour" is that all
software will be sold as downloadable with a $10 to $20 fee if you want
the software shipped on media.

It's gonna get interesting.

"Brad Licatesi" wrote in message
.net...

snip


Had a Sony Vaio P4 desktop recently where I had to contact Sony and purchase
restore DVD's and have them overnighted. Discs were about $20. Shipping was
another $20 via DHL.

Sign of the times....


Stew

This policy is being driven as much by Microsoft as by the PC vendors.
Microsoft doesn't like the idea of having OS install CDs with unused
product keys out in the field. Of course, shipping restore discs does
solve the reinstall problem easily for many users - no fiddling with
drivers, updates, etc. - but it also makes it harder to do a custom
install of Windows.





Brad Licatesi wrote:
An interesting memo went out to Dell employees this last week that says
future Inspiron and Dimension systems that ship with CDRW or DVD+-RW
drives in them will no longer include ANY media of any kind.

When you first start the system you will be given an option to burn an
image to CD or DVD for re-install. If you call Dell Support within the
21-day satisfaction period you can ask to have media discs shipped to
you. After that they can only ship media under extreme circumstances.

In fact, I was told, it would be easier for a tech to ship you a new
hard drive with a PC-Restore image on it so that you can make your own
discs again than it would be to ship you the media.

Dell is moving towards a "Zero Media Policy" and "rumour" is that all
software will be sold as downloadable with a $10 to $20 fee if you want
the software shipped on media.

It's gonna get interesting.

I don't see this as a big problem, as long as it helps keep the price of the
system down. With blank CD's costing pennies a peice, it is a negligible
cost to the buyer to burn the copies themselves. I think that when the
customer gets the system and FIRST turns it on, it should give them the
option to burn backup copies then, or place a shortcut on the desktop.


"Brad Licatesi" wrote in message
.net...
An interesting memo went out to Dell employees this last week that says
future Inspiron and Dimension systems that ship with CDRW or DVD+-RW
drives in them will no longer include ANY media of any kind.

When you first start the system you will be given an option to burn an
image to CD or DVD for re-install. If you call Dell Support within the
21-day satisfaction period you can ask to have media discs shipped to
you. After that they can only ship media under extreme circumstances.

In fact, I was told, it would be easier for a tech to ship you a new
hard drive with a PC-Restore image on it so that you can make your own
discs again than it would be to ship you the media.

Dell is moving towards a "Zero Media Policy" and "rumour" is that all
software will be sold as downloadable with a $10 to $20 fee if you want
the software shipped on media.

It's gonna get interesting.

In article , ejn63
@netscape.net says...
This policy is being driven as much by Microsoft as by the PC vendors.
Microsoft doesn't like the idea of having OS install CDs with unused
product keys out in the field. Of course, shipping restore discs does
solve the reinstall problem easily for many users - no fiddling with
drivers, updates, etc. - but it also makes it harder to do a custom
install of Windows.

Makes it difficult to recover your files too.

Had a situation where my MBR got corrupted when the computer shut down
in the middle of saving a file. Repair install didn't work. FIXBOOT
and FIXMBR didn't work.

I knew, however, that I could re-install Windows in a different folder
and get access to my files to back them up and then do a re-format re-
install.

If all you have are "restore" disks, recovering your data isn't gonna be
easy.

In article 1111287896.570291@news, says...
I don't see this as a big problem, as long as it helps keep the price of the
system down. With blank CD's costing pennies a peice, it is a negligible
cost to the buyer to burn the copies themselves. I think that when the
customer gets the system and FIRST turns it on, it should give them the
option to burn backup copies then, or place a shortcut on the desktop.

It does. When you turn the system on for the first time, even BEFORE
you fill in your info the system asks you to burn a set of re-install
CDs. You can do it at any time later if you say no and skip it.

Ben Myers wrote:
It depends very much on the content and organization of the restore CDs.
Typically, Dell ships a normal Windows XP install CD labelled as system restore.
This is good news and bad news. The good news is that it is a standard CD. The
bad news is, like all standard Windows XP CDs, not all the drivers are there for
the computer being restored. So one also needs the Dell resource CD to
reinstall the necessary drivers, and reboot, and reboot, and reboot. Then
there's the time-consuming task of getting the computer up to speed with the
myriad of critical fixes and security patches, and reboot and reboot and reboot.

With the product key affixed somewhat permanently to a computer chassis (ever
try to remove one?), the Microsoft policy is more damned foolishness and
paranoia, as Bill playes with his riches in the basement of his mansion like
Scrooge McDuck... Ben Myers

LOL, Ben, I have frequently pictured Gates swimming in his swimming pool
of $$$$$! Do you suspect guys wearing masks & prison garb are constantly
trying to break into his house?

" Ben Myers wrote:
With the product key affixed somewhat permanently to a computer chassis
(ever
try to remove one?), the Microsoft policy is more damned foolishness and
paranoia, as Bill playes with his riches in the basement of his mansion
like
Scrooge McDuck... Ben Myers
Actually they are qyuite easy to remove if you know how, we have to do it
all the time when we replace base plastics on laptops so to tamper with the
microsoft "Tamper Proof" product key sticker use a scalpel available from
any craft shop

Ben Myers wrote:
Yes, there are probably 100 million people in this country in prison garb and
wearing black masks, all wanting to loot Bill G. So Microsoft's PR (or is it
propaganda?) department would have you believe... Ben Myers

LOL - for sure, plus the billions across the planet.

Took me a minute to remember - the crooks after McDuck were the Beagle
Boys, weren't they?