Text 8943, 139 rader
Skriven 2006-01-03 00:10:50 av Rich Gauszka (1:379/45)
   Kommentar till text 8942 av Ellen K. (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: Computer Makers Cater to Big Business, Slight the Rest of Us
========================================================================
From: "Rich Gauszka" <gauszka@hotmail.com>

I'm not questioning your honesty I just think you overlooked the NIC spec
somehow.

Everything  I've seen has at least  a 10/100 NIC with many having gigabit NICs.
On a good number of the  build sites the one optional piece appears to be an
internal modem now


"Ellen K." <72322.1016@compuserve.com> wrote in message
news:j60kr1tq8tp026089vpomu0mf4rtnf6h1q@4ax.com...
> Honest.  I was just looking yesterday and today in fact.
>
> On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 14:09:47 -0500, "Rich Gauszka" <gauszka@hotmail.com>
> wrote in message <43b97a1a@w3.nls.net>:
>
>>  no NICs?  Hardly
>>
>>
>>
>>"Ellen K." <72322.1016@compuserve.com> wrote in message
>>news:k2uir1dqjac9psg41chbri1kgeqmmgb8al@4ax.com...
>>> Gee, and I've been looking at computers online and I see a lot that look
>>> like "consumer" machines to me -- big on graphics, huge hard drives, no
>>> NICs...
>>>
>>> On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 09:45:03 -0500, Mike '/m' <mike@barkto.com> wrote in
>>> message <h0fir1h86unch20s8uhnm08m61d4rflauc@4ax.com>:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113581239233633359-bY_C5K5SGPwjy65F3
FBE6G4gHmw_20061229.html?mod=blogs
>>>>
>>>>===
>>>>If you went to work this morning and sat down at your desk in front of a
>>>>personal computer, your experience probably took one of two routes.
>>>>
>>>>Lots of you found yourself logging in, probably multiple times, using
>>>>passwords you could barely remember because you are forced to change
>>>>them so often. Then, you entered a world of computing where much of the
>>>>power and variety of the technology was closed off to you in the name of
>>>>security or conformity by an information-technology department in your
>>>>large corporation or organization. Various Web sites were off-limits, as
>>>>were tools like instant messaging, even though they might have
>>>>legitimate business purposes.
>>>>
>>>>Others of you, lucky enough to work in a home-based business or in any
>>>>business or organization too small to have an IT department, could get
>>>>right to work, using the full range of changing resources and tools
>>>>offered by software and Internet companies.
>>>>
>>>>So, which of these worlds is the computer industry's favorite? If you
>>>>guessed that the industry cares most about customers who use all it has
>>>>to offer and are most willing to try new things, you guessed wrong. The
>>>>computer industry cares little about consumers and very small
>>>>businesses. It is focused on serving the IT departments of large
>>>>corporations and organizations.
>>>>
>>>>This is true even though, by some estimates, twice as many computers are
>>>>in the hands of individuals and very small organizations than are in the
>>>>control of corporate IT departments.
>>>>
>>>>Sure, big computer makers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard make and sell
>>>>"consumer" models with lots of whiz-bang features. But they really focus
>>>>on corporate customers and jump to the tune of IT managers. Dell
>>>>recently folded its separate consumer division in the U.S., conceding
>>>>that only a relatively small slice of its U.S. business is from
>>>>consumers.
>>>>
>>>>In fact, the industry operates on a false model of the U.S.
>>>>computer-using population. It imagines the world is divided between
>>>>"consumers," who lie around at home playing games and listening to
>>>>music, with the occasional homework assignment or tax form thrown in;
>>>>and "enterprises," large corporations where computing is controlled by
>>>>IT departments and only mission-critical tasks are performed.
>>>>
>>>>If these models acknowledge small businesses at all, they get lumped
>>>>into a category called SMB, for small and medium businesses, where the
>>>>minimum size is something like 500 employees and an IT staff rules.
>>>>
>>>>In fact, the most accurate way to divide the computer-using world is
>>>>into two segments: the one controlled by an IT department and the one
>>>>controlled by the people who actually use the computers, be they
>>>>consumers or small-business folks. A vast amount of business crucial to
>>>>the U.S. economy is conducted every day in the non-IT part of the
>>>>computing world.
>>>>
>>>>The computer industry loves, and caters to, the IT segment because it
>>>>buys machines in large quantities and is run by a geeky priesthood that
>>>>speaks the industry language. By contrast, the non-IT camp, even though
>>>>it is larger in the aggregate, buys one, two or three machines at a time
>>>>and tends to be nontechnical.
>>>>
>>>>A few years back, Dell moved a part of its telephone support overseas.
>>>>Consumer and corporate customers complained. Dell quietly switched some
>>>>activity back to the U.S., but only for corporate customers, at least at
>>>>first.
>>>>
>>>>This focus on the corporate world can have real, and sometimes negative,
>>>>consequences for consumers and small businesses. For example, some of
>>>>the big security problems in Microsoft's software in recent years came
>>>>because the company included features used only by corporate IT staffs
>>>>in the products it sold to everyone. One was a communications feature,
>>>>meant for network administrators, which sleazy operators misused to
>>>>bombard people with ads. Why was that on my PC in the first place?
>>>>
>>>>Other technology sectors do the same thing. Cellphone carriers, for
>>>>instance, seem to think noncorporate customers don't need many phones
>>>>with decent email software.
>>>>
>>>>Only one major computer company focuses mainly on the non-IT part of the
>>>>computing world: Apple Computer. This is partly because Apple failed to
>>>>make inroads in corporations, but it's also because it prefers to aim
>>>>its products at actual users, not intermediary buyers.
>>>>
>>>>Some of you wonder why reviewers like me, writing for the non-IT part of
>>>>the world, have consistently praised Apple products in recent years. One
>>>>reason is that they are good. Another is that they have been unaffected
>>>>(so far) by the plague of viruses and spyware that makes Windows users
>>>>miserable. But an underlying reason is the focus on individual users.
>>>>
>>>>There are some small, Windows-based PC companies that sell mainly to the
>>>>non-IT world. The best example is Alienware; another is eMachines, now
>>>>part of Gateway. But they tend to cater to narrower markets than Apple.
>>>>Alienware is aimed mainly at gamers, eMachines at bargain hunters.
>>>>
>>>>In my view, the world would be better off if the biggest computer
>>>>companies started catering more to the non-IT part of the market, where
>>>>most computers live....
>>>>===
>>>>
>>>> /m
>>>
>>
>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5
 * Origin: Barktopia BBS Site http://HarborWebs.com:8081 (1:379/45)