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Michael Dell buys back PC company he founded in $24.8bn deal
- wslh 13y agoI wonder why similar posts sticks or not. Is it theguardian.com domain/time? I am really interested in this news. My past submissions: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6376364 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6376364 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6373609 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6373609
- untog 13y agoIt's almost always time. There are peak times when lots of people use HN and upvote- if you submit outside of those times your link is likely to decay quickly. (That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a negative factor associated for forbes.com. They've basically sold out their brand to clickbait nonsense)
- bryans 13y agoLooks to me that they just weren't attention grabbing headlines. There wasn't any indication in the first one that it was a Michael Dell quote, and the second one just sounds like a random analyst offering an opinion on what Dell should do (which is not very interesting).
- beautybasics 13y agoMichael Dell once said that poorly performing Apple should return money to stock holders and shutdown. What goes around..........
- electronous 13y agoInteresting. I had never heard this quote.
- nspragmatic 13y agohttp://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203937.html http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-203937.html It was in 1997. Apple wasn't doing so well at the time.
- AsymetricCom 13y agoWell, now Mr. Dell is the stock holder.
- 178 13y ago… because he gave "the money back to the shareholders".
- rthomas6 13y agoAt least he puts his money where his mouth is.
- akmiller 13y agoSome of Dell's hardware seems to be getting better again. I just purchased the Dell XPS 12" and I'm mostly satisfied with the computer (although it's a bit expensive). However, there are two things that still drive me crazy about Dell. The first one should be easy to fix which is that the website is absolutely awful. It's slow, many links 404 and overall just a very frustrating experience. It took me awhile to get my computer ordered because of how slow the site is and I almost gave up. The other issue is the fact that I have to wait about 2 weeks for my computer to be built and shipped to me. Most of their computers they don't even allow many configurations so why can't they have pre-built machines ready to ship. The very day I ordered my Dell, I ordered a Macbook Air for my wife which shipped in 2 days. Dell has been pretty consistent force on the server side, but I'd like to see them regain some strength in the consumer laptop market again.
- untog 13y agoThe very day I ordered my Dell, I ordered a Macbook Air for my wife which shipped in 2 days. The last time I ordered a customised Macbook, delivery took weeks (and was from China). This was some years ago though, so may no longer be accurate. Seems the answer here would be for Dell to have 'off the shelf' laptops with standard configurations they can ship quickly. If they don't already, I'm kind of amazed.
- akmiller 13y agoI've had it take longer with Apple too but that's usually been on popular releases when they've gotten back-ordered. My wife's laptop was customized with 8gb of ram and 512gb ssd and its ship date was 1-2 days and it did ship 2 days later. My main complaint was that after ordering a computer for 1800.00 it's very frustrating to be told that it will take 10-20 days just to "build" it, much less how long it will take to actually get to me.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoJudging from your comment and GP’s, it’s obvious that DELL is giving women special treatment ;) I’ve ordered numerous BTO Macs. Most took only a few days, a few took over a week. In the cases that it took over a week, it was always when the model was recently released.
- nasalgoat 13y agoIn the Enterprise space, there really isn't a solid competitor - HP and IBM equipment is, to be blunt, terrible: I had a 50% DOA rate on 20 HP servers I bought two years ago. In contrast, I've had zero on the $4M+ worth of Dell I've bought since then. That said, it only applies to their servers - the disk arrays and networking equipment is all garbage. I hope this change won't result in making the one thing that works worse.
- rdl 13y agoIt's kind of screwed up, but the #2 reliability hardware vendor I've found has been Supermicro (tied with Dell, depending on model). Supermicro is also super-cheap, and tends to make cool things like Intel developer machines. I hate Dell desktops, although I do like their monitors. Dell desktops tend to over-optimize on power supplies and other components, such that you can never really upgrade them later.
- harrytuttle 13y agoDell servers are shit. Currently trying to source a disk for a 3 year old poweredge which is stupid. Pay £700 for a Dell one or £122 fir a generic one but the array won't build with the generic one as the PERC doesn't like it (even though its the same model disk). Dell modify the firmware. +1 for supermicro and they're fun to build as well as bomb proof
- MichaelGG 13y agoExcept Supermicro's remote management stuff locks up and requires a unit reset to get going again. That's hosed us more than once (across different servers, different timeframes, different datacenters, different providers). Dell's done some dumb stuff, and the newer gen models are a nightmare to figure out (limiting number of disks for no reason, requiring 2.5" on some models but not others). Plus they gouge you to get a functional KVM ($300+?) But they've been far more reliable than Supermicro, in my limited experience.
- intorio 13y agoAre you running the newest firmware on the PERC? The firmware used to limit you to only Dell certified drives but they removed that after about a year, probably due to backlash. I know we told our rep we wouldn't buy the new cards until they got rid of that.
- kenshiro_o 13y agoCarl Icahn must be a very upset activist investor now. I wish Michael Dell can improve Dell's figures - I think they do make very solid hardware but their profit margin in the consumer space are just too thin. They either need to push more on the services front or become the Apple for Windows powered systems, where they could sell stylish and great products at a premium.
- yuhong 13y agoI do wonder what would happen if "profit margin fixing" was legal.
- nateabele 13y agoFor some reason the phrase comes to mind "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out".
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoFrom what I’ve read about Michael Dell over the years, I’d say he’s doing a great job at that (taking the company out.) This is the company that came up with built-to-order from their online shop, fast deliveries while maintaining small inventory, and selling most computers directly. Their computers weren't innovative per se, but their business processes were. What have they done for us lately?
- gametheoretic 13y agoAsk an IT guy. The internals on the 990 desktop series >>> the 960 series >>> the whatever... 600-somethings, etc. Continual improvement, model after model. When you're dealing with thousands of employees, ease of interchangeable internals is a godsend. What have they done lately? Kicked ass.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoI was referring to: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhatHaveYouDoneForMeLately http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhatHaveYouDoneFo... Anyways, you speak truth. Microsoft and DELL are set up for enterprise. IT departments love them and are right to do so. However, the market is changing. Already, there are more smartphones than traditional computers. Tablets are outselling traditional computers. Many of those devices will need to connect to corporate networks. As a result, IT management is changing. Because of BYOD, the needs of users are taking front-seat to those of IT managers. They might not like it, but I believe the trend is irreversible.
- gametheoretic 13y agoYea and nay - as always with IT, the answer is "it depends". My background is with telecom giants. 'Round those parts, ain't nobody B'ing their own D. If a company does anything for the government, it may as well do everything for the government; almighty Compliance is a jealous god.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoCompanies that are publicly traded are under constant pressure to increase profit. DELL becoming a privately held company allows them to relieve some of that pressure, especially with Michael Dell being a large shareholder. The PC market is shrinking as individuals and enterprises alike are relegating more and more tasks to smartphones and tablets. The useful life of a desktop/notebook also continues to be lengthened. DELL will continue to sell computers and make profit, but unless they change their focus significantly, they won't be a company that the stock market would love. I think they made the right decision. if they turn around and become the next Apple or Lenovo, they could always go public again.
- beautybasics 13y ago- It's ok if a "horse carriage" manufacturer goes private after cars became commonplace - But Ford doesn't need to go private because Toyota came along
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoThe last time I checked (2 minutes a go; I like to be sure), Ford wasn't doing so well. In recent years, they’ve had to sell a lot of their brands and all of their components factories. They're in debt and are selling half as many vehicles as they were a decade a go. Going private wouldn't be a bad idea. Even better would be to sell the company to its employees. That has worked very well for similar companies.
- zanny 13y agoEmpowering your workers with a share of their productivity and a voice in the business that elevates them beyond a flesh body moving its limbs is a slippery slope in an age of attempted wage slavery on a global scale. /conspiracy
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago> slippery slope ...towards a better world.
- quest88 13y agoDell's going to have to step-up their mobile front to stay competitive. "Research group IDC said tablets will outsell all PCs in the three months to Christmas, and by 2015 they will regularly outsell PCs as consumers' tastes shift towards the more mobile format."
- jbpadgett 13y agoI feel like Dell had a great idea with the developer Linux laptop http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/campaigns/xps-linux-laptop http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/campaigns/xps-linux-lapt.... Having a mainstream PC linux alternative to Mac is likely good for the market. My thought was that the privatization move was part of a plan to offer more products like this and less of Windows, but the MS investment to support them makes that argument less viable http://www.electronista.com/articles/13/02/05/michael.dell.remains.ceo.becomes.majority.shareholder/ http://www.electronista.com/articles/13/02/05/michael.dell.r....
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- davidw 13y agoI just got an XPS 13 with Ubuntu. It's not bad, and the biggest defect, the screen, is something it has in common with pretty much everything else out there. Major props to Dell for providing a good computer that ships with Linux. https://plus.google.com/111292429212746362343/posts/8xUpUXeTvPE https://plus.google.com/111292429212746362343/posts/8xUpUXeT...
- stevewillows 13y agoI read your post. I totally agree with the squashed screens. It would be awesome to have a fancy flip / rotatable screen to allow for more vertical space. Also, wtf is with the lack of pg up / pg dn ?! That's just weird.
- seehafer 13y agoI just spent 30 seconds trying to figure out what 'pg up' meant. Signs you read too much Hacker News: - You read "pg up" as "Paul Graham up"
- stinos 13y agoDon't you get those using Fn+Up/Down? At least my XPS15z has them there.
- davidw 13y agoYeah, but I use them often enough that that's a PITA.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- virtualwhys 13y agoPlease do NOT go under Dell. Own a Dell Precision M4700 workstation (absolute beast of a laptop, i7 3840QM, 32GB RAM, 2X 256GB SSD), and 2 R610 1U rack servers in colo. I've been buying Dell servers since 2005, never a problem, completely satisfied. Their high end consumer, and mid-to-high-range server gear is pure quality, at decent pricing to boot (if you can work a deal with sales rep., or find a decent unit on Dell Outlet that is).
- stinos 13y agoHaving worked in a place using only their top-line products (laptops,workstations and servers) since 2001, I can't stress how true this is. That stuff is pure quality. Quite a lot of the machines that were bought in 2001-2003 are still there, up and running (of course with second or third batch of new hard disks). Those that are not there anymore were abandoned because they became too slow for current standards, not because they broke. Which basically means we're not sure of the actual lifetime yet since there hasn't been any of the machines that just didn't work anymore. Also extremely important: Dell obviously did quite some research in figuring out which components work together well. This translates in close to zero OS problems due to hardware goining nuts. In other words: no kernel panics, no blue screens. Some people hardly belive this, but the only time I saw blue screens/kernel panics in the past ten years was when doing stupid stuff myself, never because of the machine. (note: I cannot compare to other brands here, maybe they are as good as well - I certainly hope so for their users)
- Derbasti 13y agoI think this is terrific news. A publicly traded company has only one goal: increasing short term profit (max one year). Thus, no long term investment is possible any more. Buying Dell back enables them to think long and hard about the future of computing--to invest into the future. This makes me very hopeful that my next computer will be a Dell: A well-designed machine that was not just a marketing-driven reaction to what the others were doing, but a result of thorough engineering and thoughtful design.
- tadfisher 13y agoThat is not true, and HN continually rehashes this argument. There is no law or standard that a public corporation must maximize short-term shareholder profit.
- Schiphol 13y agoThere certainly is no law, and I'm not sure what you mean by standard. But if you work at any number of such corporations you will notice there certainly is a robust trend.
- samolang 13y agoAmazon's one goal is to increase short term profit?
- dvmmh 13y agoAmazon is the exception. Bezos is very smart in training investors to look at the value of their investment in other ways and that company profitability is NOT one of them. In the majority of corporations the pressure is immense to be profitable, stay profitable and increase profitability. Very few CEOs/BODs have the backbone to resist that.
- samolang 13y agoDo you have any evidence to support this claim? Why does Microsoft Research exist? Why is Google sending balloons over New Zealand? Why does Costco pay their employees above minimum wage?
- goombastic 13y agoScreen resolution is the biggest handicap with most laptops today. Looking at my laptop screens after using the mobile reminds me of how good the screens on mobiles are today. It made my laptop experience worse in comparison. Meanwhile on mobiles and tablets, touch resolution & lag are the issue.
- toblender 13y agoI wonder if Dell is trying to pull a Jobs, comeback and turn the ship around, and do something wild like neuro interface computing... Or take the game market by storm start producing XBoxOne/PS4 style consoles.
- Pxtl 13y agoDell has the brand power that they're not totally sunk. Honestly, I'm not happy with my Dell hardware - I have a Dell laptop with a garbage speaker that can no longer charge the battery, and it only lasted just over two years (testing replacement power-supplies and batteries proved it was the port itself that was fried). It looked nice, it was fun to use, but it wasn't built to last. This wouldn't be such a problem if Dell didn't go out of their way to use proprietary hacks on their hardware. But there are other industries where this is totally okay. Gaming. Set-top boxes. Stuff like that. People expect those devices to be highly proprietary and not serviceable. Dell's Ophelia project could be a good move for them - use their brand-name to sell Android-based TV boxes. That's a place where people still do the yearly upgrade treadmill.
- InTheSwiss 13y agoWhat model laptop? I am still using my Studio 17 laptop from January 2009 and other than the hinge getting loose every few months (which means I need to pop the plastic off around the screen and tighten again with a standard phillips screwdriver) it has been the best laptop I have owned. It has outlasted my ThinkPad's which is the biggest shock to me. Maybe I just got lucky but I couldn't be happier with this machine. It has lasted way longer than I expected it too considering it is a consumer laptop and not a business line such as the Latitude. When I have to replace it I am not too sure what I will do as now I expect my laptop to last me at least 5 years :-/
- Pxtl 13y agoI forget the model name - something in the Inspiron line. I have a Vostro desktop and I'm happy with it (even managed to drop in a low-power GeForce video card without overloading the PSU), but the lappy has been a disappointment. Although I've a family with small children, so I guess we're hard on laptops (I've still got to swap out the keyboard on my wife's HP after my daughter pried half of them off and broke the little plasticky bits needed to re-attach them).
- nobodysfool 13y agoFunny story about Michael Dell - He was a system builder, and my dad owned a computer store that sold supplies to builders. So, Michael Dell came in, he was just about 18 years old or something, just a kid. My dad taught him how to build a computer, and Dell, he wanted to build his own power supplies. My dad told him he was crazy, especially since power supplies are so cheap, they come with the cases you bought anyway. Years later, I tried to convince my dad that mail order was the way to go, but he grumbled about having to refund people for a full 30 days after sale and how it would ruin his cashflow. That business finally went under. Then he started again, and in 1999 I show him that he could sell 2x the amount of computers if he sold on the internet. Again, same grumbling about cash flows. That business went under. Now look at Dell.
- vondur 13y agoI thought Dell had become big in the late 90's by mastering the supply chain and cutting costs in manufacturing. When everyone else did that too, they seemed to have lost their competitive advantage. Maybe Michael Dell has a plan for them in this "post pc" world. I don't have faith that they will, but I could be wrong.
- dakotasmith 13y agoI believe Dell's suppliers also used the demonstrated advantages of Dell's logistics to enter the market as competitors. Also in the pre-2000s run up, Dell's pricing was premium, and with those margins Dell provided better than average in-house, state-side customer support, most (all?) of which was eventually dismantled as PC prices dropped. Maybe when they aren't public, Dell will be able to invest heavily in R&D & customer support without worrying about earnings per share for the next quarter.