IT’S A SEA CHANGE, Dell Inc getting out of building PCs. The report on www.itexaminer.com, following one on the Wall Street Journal, speculates that Dell will flog off its factories to third party contractors.
It makes sense, but only if you understand how PC assembly works. For Dell. We visited Dell’s places in Ireland quite a few years ago, and they have it to a tee. It’s a just in time build model, so the resistors and everything else are in place just as they’re needed, and according to orders received.
No one who buys a Dell cares where it is built, whether it’s in Chennai or Limerick. Buyers want a bog standard desktop, server or notebook, and it’s got to arrive on time, at a given price, and the rest.
The bigger question is when Dell sells off its assembly units to Whoever Inc, what will happen on the support front? In Bangalore there’s a massive Dell call centre. Will Dell sell that off too? Does anyone need PC support these days? Or is everything so simple and straightforward that it’s like plugging in a microwave? [No, Ed.]
Next time you buy a Dell, if Dell goes through with its plans, you probably won’t have a clue where it’s been built or what’s in it. But never mind, you never did have much of a clue anyway when you bought a Dell, where it came from, did you? And you really didn’t care. Chip manufacturers, take note. ♥
kicking it off…recently overheard in far cry 2 chatroom- they supposedly have herbivores in the game, maybe killer bees too, please note the imagination and hollywood references…(ed./sic)
Talking with Videogaming 24/7, Patrick Redding of Ubisoft says the developer is thinking about adding some predatory critters to Far Cry 2:
Far Cry 2 narrative chap Patrick Redding confirmed to VG247 at Games Convention that predatory animals may be added to the game after it launches.
“We’re definitely talking about the types of predatory animals we might include at some point, and we’re going to investigate that,” he said.
“But I don’t want to say too much about it because I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”
Gary “ElfShotTheFood” McLean
Sep 4 2008, 6:43 AM
How about some controllable rhinos?
SirKnight6 replied to Gary “ElfShotTheFood” McLean’s post
Sep 4 2008, 6:05 PM
But it gets too hot in those rhinos. ;)
Then the door locks shut and you have to crawl out of its anus while kids on a safari watch in horror.
Just for the record… Dell supposedly has a manufacturing plant in Brazil. Yet, when you order a notebook from Argentina, the notebook comes shipped by courier from Dell in Malaysia. So I wonder WTF do they manufacture in Brazil?. They build desktops, perhaps?
Cheers
FC