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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. |
#2
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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. |
#3
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"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 |
#4
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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. |
#5
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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. |
#6
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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. |
#7
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#8
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I can see it being a nightmare for Dell support. Most consumers who get new
PCs don't think like the people who post on this group. Many will not see the value of creating these restore disks, until it's too late. But the concept is not entirely new. I had to do this when I bought my brand spanking new Mac Performa from Sears in 1992. 20-some floppies and 3 hours later, the entire OS and Application bundle was backed up. Well, at least Dell customers won't have babysit the process shuffling disks back and forth -- at least the ones with DVD burners won't have to. |
#9
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"pengulin" wrote in message ... I can see it being a nightmare for Dell support. Most consumers who get new PCs don't think like the people who post on this group. Many will not see the value of creating these restore disks, until it's too late. But the concept is not entirely new. I had to do this when I bought my brand spanking new Mac Performa from Sears in 1992. 20-some floppies and 3 hours later, the entire OS and Application bundle was backed up. Well, at least Dell customers won't have babysit the process shuffling disks back and forth -- at least the ones with DVD burners won't have to. Currently the compressed image is small enough to fit on CDR media. Thankfully, dual-layer DVD R/RW drives are dropping in price considerably recently. I picked one up for less than $70 a couple of weeks ago. But your point is correct; it relies on the user to actually create the discs and beyond that do no damage to the restore image on the hard disk (or the hdd itself to not fail). Stew |
#10
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On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 22:29:39 -0600, Brad Licatesi
wrote: 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. OKay. I either missed that or said "No". What must be done at this point for me to generate useful re-install CDs? I do have a stack of CD-Rs, but no DVD+Rs as yet; just a couple of DVD+RWs available at this time. Where is the command to generate reinstall CDs? Regards, de ~ Vince ~ |
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