[dba-Tech] OT: Compaq vs. Dell

...boy-o-boy!!! Gator!!! ...had a nightmare with an early network client in
convincing him to lock down his systems after installing DSL ...until I ran
Spybot and Pest Patrol on his own system after him swearing in front of his
whole office that HE never would download anything like Gator ...the list
was more than two pages long ...he now runs a server based Pest Patrol as
well as Spybot S&D on the workstations :)))))))

William Hindman
<http://www.freestateproject.org> - Next Year In The Free State!


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Bartow" <john at winhaven.net>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues"
<dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 1:19 PM
Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] OT: Compaq vs. Dell


> [in line remarks]
> >
> > ...hhhmmm ...I wouldn't expect Dell to normally include malware in their
> > support ...personally I'd always run Spybot S&D and PestPatrol among
other
> > diagnostics before calling any support point ...now the exception
> > to that is
> > that I would expect Dell Support to be aware of any recent malware/virii
> > issues for which updates have not been released by
> > Symantec/Spybot etc, and
> > warn me of them if my symptoms point in that direction.
> >
> The fact that its an issue that they have to make a policy about shows
that
> its a major concern. Every company is dealing with it now. Most companies
> advise people to use Spybot S&D, AdAware, Pest Patrol or the like.
Symantec
> is biting a huge bullet adding addware removal to NAV. The sent out a
press
> release a year or two ago that said they wouldn't do it since the EULA of
> most addware states its purpose and it is thereby legal software but
> apparently they rethought that. As I understand they have been sued
already
> by Gator.
> It drives me crazy that businesses would download anything that is not of
> business value but it happens every day in every customer site I have -
> regardless of my advice. And, also, sorry for getting this off topic
> somewhat - if someone has malware on their SERVER (its more of PC problem)
> they probably deserve bad tech support ;o)
>
> > ...Dell driver and software updates have been consistently good and
always
> > appear on the Win Update site at the same time Dell makes them
> > available on
> > their own site which saves me a bit of time.
>
> Agreed
>
> >
> > ...based upon customer complaints, Dell has now moved all of its small
> > business/corporate support back to US based staff who actually
> > speak English
> > and can deviate from a script ...my understanding is that HP/Compaq
> > continues to use their India based support but since I don't use them I
> > can't verify that.
>
> Yes this is a major plus!
>
> > ...my real bitch with Compaq servers was based upon a couple
> > instances where
> > proprietary components simply were not available for one of their older
(3
> > years) servers and when they were found, the price was simply outrageous
> > ...but you paid or died ...one experience left a client down for
> > more than a
> > week whose entire business was computer based while Compaq searched
> > everywhere for the part according to them ...I finally found it through
a
> > desperation plea on another list ...the client bought all new Dell
Servers
> > two months later and I've never even considered using Compaq again
...with
> > Dell Servers, I can if necessary use ANY OTS component in an emergency
and
> > it will work ...and Dell will continue to honor the rest of its
warranty.
> >
> More true a few years ago and I believe this will end for Small Business
> Server lines (if it hasn't already) because of the HP buyout. On the
higher
> end servers most companies use non-typical/proprietary parts - that's what
> makes them higher-end :o)
>
> > ...this is of course just my experience ...others evidently have reason
to
> > see it differently :)
> >
> > William Hindman
>
> Good Luck JC.
>
> JB
>
>
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