Text 8923, 122 rader
Skriven 2006-01-02 14:09:46 av Rich Gauszka (1:379/45)
   Kommentar till text 8922 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>

  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_C5K5SGPwjy65F3FB
E6G4gHmw_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
>

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