On Sunday 20 July 2003 08:44 pm, JoeHill wrote: > On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 17:40:56 -0700 > > Erylon Hines <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> uttered: > > I hate MS as much as the next guy (I don't run it at all at home, > > although it is available via dual boot), but this is really the fault > > of the pc maker/distributors. I haven't seen a single pc in the past > > couple of years that actually came with a real install disk. > > I thoght of that as soon as I posted it! Good point! > > Buuuuuut, PC distributors should be selling computers with install > disks, and who will make them do that? > > Darn personal responsibility! I guess it's me...
It's really all about reducing manufacturing costs, folks. In particular, customer service costs. Cube dwellers aren't free, and the big manufacturers such as HP or Dell have acres of them. Big bucks are being spent there. Less cubies mean less bucks. By reducing the time spent with each customer, fewer cubies can handle any given level of service demands; one method of reducing customer contact time is to automate the entire partition, format and install drill so that it takes but a single step. If this does not remedy the issue and subsequent assistance is needed, there is the additional benefit that diagnosis will be greatly simplified as the PC will be in a known state, unencumbered by any changes that may have been made after the PC was shipped. The fact that the among the missing are any customer-installed applications and all of his data is regarded as collateral damage. Customers who complain are reminded that they were told to make regular and frequent backups; the procedures are explained in the manual. It's particularly sad when the original complaint was that the CD-RW didn't work, and it's truly pathetic when the manual was actually a huge .pdf file on the CD. "Have a nice day, sir." Me? I build my own systems. Not just because I'm cheap. I'm also a control freak. BTW, whenever you hear the term "customer service", remember that "service" is what the bull does to the cow. Any bull will tell you that it was a lot better in the old days. -- cmg
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