Is Dell listening to the right people?

Sam Varghese
Friday, 25 May 2007 06:23

Opinion and Analysis

Microsoft Office 365

 Details emerged on the web overnight, with the sales price being a wee bit lower than equivalent machines with Windows Vista installed.

Of course, when comparing prices, it is important to remember that one can't get exactly the same systems together for both operating systems - there are differences but then these are minor.

At this point it's necessary to ask: is Dell listening to the wrong people?

The Ubuntu saga began with a question on Dell's IdeaStorm website, asking prospective customers what they wanted the company to sell. Around 100,000 responses - we can't be sure that each and everyone of these responses was from a different person - indicated that Linux on Dell machines would be a seller.

But who are these people? On its Direct2Dell website (cute name, that), the company says: "Dell is doing this (releasing machines that have Ubuntu installed) because of your clear feedback in IdeaStorm. User dhart submitted this idea on February 16 — the first day we launched IdeaStorm and it quickly became the #1 idea. Since then, about 30,000 community members weighed in to support it, and over 100,000 of you completed the Linux survey to tell us more."

Makes you think that this company is incredibly customer-focused, what?

But again, who are these people? Are they customers who are waiting for the machines to be ready, just waiting to get on the web and order one?

Or are they nerds from the American midwest (the kind who haunt sites like Slashdot) who already have two PCs at home, one running Linux for work and the other running Windows for games?

Are these the kind who need machines that run Linux without complaint - or are they the sort who enjoy getting hard-to-use hardware to work with Linux?

To my mind, the way Dell has evaluated this response is rather shoddy - I mean if 100,000 actual people turned up outside GM and asked for a car that runs on kerosene would the company build one in the next six months?

Why do companies always add a disclaimer when they conduct web polls?

Let me repeat here what I've said before: an initiative of this nature by a company like Dell should be undertaken only after careful market analysis. It should be done in a business-like, professional manner. Else it won't work.

Dell wouldn't mind throwing a little money away in order to improve its image. It needs an image boost badly.

If the Ubuntu machines don't move, then there is always a way out: "Look, we listened to you, we offered Linux on our hardware. Sorry, but it doesn't appear to be a runner - not yet anyway. Maybe we'll try again after a while."

And the suckers who took part in that survey will all sympathise, weep a little in their beer, and then go back to playing World of Warcraft on their Windows gaming machines. They need to build up a little aggro for the next survey, don't they?