Dell charges £16 TO INSTALL FIREFOX on PCs – Mozilla is miffed The Mozilla Foundation has begun an investigation after tech juggernaut Dell appeared to be asking customers to pay more than £16 ($27) to install its free web browser Firefox on newly purchased Dell kit. A dialog box that popped up while a reader was trying to buy hardware at Dell (click for the full enlarged glory) A …
I'll publically admit to knowing very little about MS Windows, so my response when asked about slow-running Windows computers is usually something along the lines of "I can wipe the disk and install Linux if you like."
You're supposed to use the "mindless fanboi" icon when posting that. Unless you were being sarcastic - there's an icon for that, too.
You're supposed to use the "mindless fanboi" icon when posting that. Unless you were being sarcastic - there's an icon for that, too.
If the goal is to deter people from asking you for help with Windows, then it's the perfect answer.
"Well, yes I am a doctor but my specialty is in removing organs for transplants. I can tell you why you have that pain in your abdomen, but I would have to take out your liver and both kidneys to do it. Is that okay with you?"
What a bunch of miserable, misanthropic curmudgeons you all are.
I try and fix computers for friends and reliatives whenever I can. It's a skill I have, and they are people I like, so I try to help them out. They, in turn, do things for me when they have skills that can help me out.
GJC
Well said Geoff C!
Me too, I help out when I can and I do it for nothing, in turn they might take my kids to the cinema one Saturday so I get a bit of peace or they might come round and help me when I need a pair of hands for DIY job. Like Geoff said, I have a particular skill and it's good to use it to help people who will actually appreciate it. Sounds like you lot don't hate fixing computers, you hate dealing with your rellies!
>What a bunch of miserable, misanthropic curmudgeons you all are.
I am indeed, but the reason I try to dodge helping people with their laptops is the infinite number of ways a laptop can be FUBAR'ed. Rootkit anti-theft software which isn't compatible with a system update? "Helper" software? Every toolbar under the sun (and some which clearly would turn to stone if exposed to light) installed? Corrupted registry? Vendor shovelware? DRM? Speed up teh yu0r c0mputer software? Disk errors? Crappy hardware? Worse drivers? All of the above?
The one thing it almost never is, but the user always thinks it is, is viruses.
I too fix various family, friends and friends of family PC's and do so with a vague hope of my services being somehow repaid if really needed, but am still awaiting for my lawn to be mowed, kitchen redecorated, car washed, drains unblocked etc. And all to be carried out late into the evenings and/or on Sunday afternoons.
I was so sick of having to deal with the computers of relatives that I decided that I will only help them if they want assistance to install/use Linux.
Nothing MS does or produce is even remotely interesting.
Linux may not be for everybody, but what I'm sure of is that MS is not for me, the overwhelming feeling of not being able to tell what the F*** the computer is doing is too much to bear.
"I'll publically admit to knowing very little about MS Windows, so my response when asked about slow-running Windows computers is usually something along the lines of "I can wipe the disk and install Linux if you like."
You're supposed to use the "mindless fanboi" icon when posting that. Unless you were being sarcastic - there's an icon for that, too."
Chill, it's a survival trick, one that I've learned to use myself after nearly chewing my own eyes out* while helping someone fix their mess.
Now I just say "Sorry, I don't run Windows myself, can't help you."
*You really, REALLY, don't want to know the details!
...because Dell will be out of the consumer and SME hardware business pretty soon.
That'll be sad, because I still remember the days way back yonder, when Dell were not only good value, but well supported by native English speakers, and (notwithstanding glitches from time to time) they were a safe bet to recommend to friends and family, knowing that nine times out of ten Dell would sort out problems so that the family go-to-guy didn't have to get involved.
Now...well, over priced, not very good, unbelievably poor offshore support for consumers (can't speak for SME). Sixteen quid to instal Firefox is the least of a Dell buyer's concerns, IMHO.
Dell lost it when they went to black cases. The old smoke stained creamy GX1's were awesome little workhorses. The black GX150's complete and utter crap.
But it is nice to see that they will happily charge me £16 for putting a tick on a script in order to get Firefox, saving me a massive amount of time that I can then use to catch up on the 18 months of OS updates they didn't bother with.
Indeed, I remember the days of yore when Dell workstations and servers were top notch pieces of kit. And when you spoke to support in Ireland you were speaking to someone who knew your server inside out. Shame they lost the plot.
On the subject of the browser installation fee, considering the amount they charge for the sorry excuse that their PCs and laptops are these days, £16 sounds like an absolute bargain. Not.
Actually they won't be out of that business.
Also Dell has native English speaking tech support. If you buy a Pro Support warranty you will speak to a native English speaker usually from Glasgow if you are in the UK. Dell does still do a very basic warranty for those who are able to take the hardware apart and work out what is wrong with it themselves. As there is no profit in this because the prices are driven so low you get to speak to someone in India. The Enterprise tech support agents are in Ireland and Glasgow and they all speak English. Although Dell is moving into services the company still wants to be an end to end service provider and still makes a small profit on those consumer products.
"I'm sorry, but if you're installing iTunes on a Windows machine, you should pay a hefty compensation to the victim for such a heinous crime against humanity"
No. After they try to use iTunes on Windows they will never, ever, ask you to install anything on anything of theirs ever again. That's a win-win; get paid for installing bumf, and never get bothered by that person again. Time to do the Happy Dance(tm).
As long as they are not charging for Firefox itself, I don't see that Mozilla has much of a comeback. Dell are charging for the service of installing the software.
That is how the open source model is supposed to work, the software is free, but "consultants" are free to charge for additional services around the product, such as installation support, training, general support etc.
If someone is mug enough to fork out 16 quid, fair dinkum to Dell.
That said, putting Firefox as an additional component in the image would probably cost Dell a few cents at most, over the volume of machines they would potentially deliver with Firefox installed.
Good point, and pretty much what I was thinking.
The software itself may well be free, but Dell are providing an employee to do the install. That employee requires a wage, and on top of that they have direct financial demands on the employer (employer's NI contribution, pension contribution, etc.) on top of their salary. And they'll require the tools to let them do their job....things like a chair and desk, etc.
Before you say "but they'd have that anyway" remember that if they weren't installing Firefox they'd be doing other work...other work which is currently being done by someone else, who brings with them their own overhead cost.
If your time is sufficiently low-value, then sure you can spend 10 minutes installing Firefox yourself. But if you're a professional, working at professional contract rates, then that 10 minutes of not working/earning could easily cost you in excess of the £16-odd that Dell are asking for.
Do you not think it's quite likely that they have this automated?
Good job that the automation fairies don't charge to set that up (and I know that Dell automation fairies take a long time and several attempts before they get it right). It is hardly the first time that software charging models don't mirror the cost centres or a headline price is cross-subsidised by "value"-add services.
> Yes. And I'm sure they install the OS and all of their utilities from scratch as well. Do you not think it's quite likely that they have this automated?
Indeed.
If the commenter thinks that Dell employs people to sit in front of a laptop installing software by hand, then they must be seriously naive.
If Dell have even an ounce of sense, all of this would be automated by tools. I would be surprised if people were involved at all.
The employee does it once, to create an additional install package for the standard image. That cost then needs to be divvied up between all the machines sold with Firefox pre-installed.
There is a cost to creating that package, but it isn't going to work out at 16 quid a machine, unless they are planning on selling only half a dozen machines in total.
If your time is sufficiently low-value, then sure you can spend 10 minutes installing Firefox yourself. But if you're a professional, working at professional contract rates, then that 10 minutes of not working/earning could easily cost you in excess of the £16-odd that Dell are asking for.
If you're a professional who can't find something else to be doing with that multitasking computer you're sat in front of, whilst the Firefox installer does its thing, you shouldn't be getting paid anything, by anyone.
"If you're a professional who can't find something else to be doing with that multitasking computer you're sat in front of, whilst the Firefox installer does its thing, you shouldn't be getting paid anything, by anyone."
Yeah...cos when you're getting paid contractor rates to sit in a client's office and do the work they're paying you top coin for, there's nothing the client likes more than for you to not work on the job in hand and to p*** about setting up software on your own machine
"If you're a professional who can't find something else to be doing with that multitasking computer you're sat in front of, whilst the Firefox installer does its thing, you shouldn't be getting paid anything, by anyone."
Yeah...cos when you're getting paid contractor rates to sit in a client's office and do the work they're paying you top coin for, there's nothing the client likes more than for you to not work on the job in hand and to p*** about setting up software on your own machine
But why have you bought a new machine and not spent the time at home previously setting it up, therefore not pi**ing off your client and also not getting charged by Dell for a basic operation?
"But why have you bought a new machine and not spent the time at home previously setting it up, therefore not pi**ing off your client and also not getting charged by Dell for a basic operation?"
I could do. So I have three options.....
Do it "on work time", and p*** off a client
Do it at home instead of working, and lose income
Do it at home, in my own time, and lose personal time / quality of life.
And we could be talking about more than just a 10 minute browser installation - a new machine could require a lot more software to be installed on it.
So personally I'd take the fourth option: pay someone what I consider to be a fair price to do something that frees me up to do something which I consider to be more important.
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