Dells — big debacle,or biggest debacle ever?

Hays High Guidon - Semptember 21, 2007

Editorial by Derek Kandt - Editor-in-Chief of Hays High Guidon

Ah… the Dells. Where to begin? Most of you know my stance on Windows and Dell, and I have been trying to be open minded about the switch, but they are making it hard. I know we are stuck with them for four years (kind of a long-term mistake), and we have to learn to make due.However, we need to get this down for the record, lest we forget down the road when someone asks our district to be the guinea pigs for a brand new system from a company known for taking at least two years to perfect its product.Please realize I’m not trying to blame everyone in our administration (school and district). Most have been trying very hard to fi x all the problems we’ve been having, but the ball has been dropped several times along the way, and not just by USD 489. Dell and Microsoft share a lot of the responsibility.The grievances: it’s egregiously slow, the new software is unfamiliar (in Offi ce 2007’a case), it is unable to run on the machines (in InDesigns’s case) and we don’t even have Creative Suite 3. The software issues are pretty far down the list for most people though. It’s the constant issues for most people. Like, when you have to log back into our computer every time it falls asleep or close the lid. But that is only for the really fortunate, because more than likely, your computer entered that mystical, irreversible sleep mode. You know, that mode from which you will certainly have to force shut down. But if you were really lucky, you could have opened your lid to fi nd that your computer had inexplicitly shut off (my personal favorite). Oh, and for those few who did get logged on before the bell rang, you may have got on just in time to see that your wireless connection is now gone. And how about when you open your computer at home (who would do that?) and then come back to school, your wireless has that fun ! symbol that means it’s time to restart the computer. That may or may not solve your problem though; don’t worry just keep at it. My record is four restarts, what’s yours? Oh, excuse me for a second. I’ve been typing for about 30 minutes now and what do you know, my battery is dead. But who cares about stuff like your battery only lasting for one class when there are so many good things about these computers like….….sorry my Word stopped responding and I lost that last bit.And there’s the rub. We are trying to get work done and no one has given us the tools to get it done. Hey, but we are saving a little cash on a million plus bid. I pray we learn from this. It’s a good thing I don’t mind saying I told you so.

Editorial by Derek Kandt

http://www.hayshighguidon.com/Archives/07-08/PDF/September07%20PDF.pdf