Ben Shoemate's Notebook

Then the request came back asking where can they get a new laptop without Windows and that prompted my revisiting the Dell.com website to see if I can get a machine without ‘oze.I have a Dell Vostro V13 N-series (which came with Ubuntu preinstalled, the “N” meaning “No Windows”). So, that was what I was looking out in the dell.com site.  Search as I might, nothing showed up.  It’s amazing how well hidden the n-series offerings are.  I am very sure Microsoft’s marketing muscle is squarely behind it. 

Now, since I know that there is such as thing as a N-series laptop, I clicked on Dell.com’s “Live Chat” button and the following is the transcript of what happened. I’ve replaced the Dell person’s name with “Dell Rep”.

16:35:51		harish pillay	Initial Question/Comment: h.pillay@Ieee.org
16:35:56		System	You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
16:35:56		System	Connected with Dell Rep
16:36:01		Dell Rep	Welcome to Dell Sales Chat. My name is Dell Rep. I’ll be your personal sales agent. How may I assist you. If you proceed to place your order online, please indicate my name, Dell Rep, as your sales representative so that I’ll be able to track your order for you.
16:36:22		harish pillay	Hi, Dell Rep. Can you point me to where I can get the n-series vostro v13?
16:36:33		harish pillay	i do not want to buy windows for the machine.
16:37:01		Dell Rep	we do not offer n-series of the Dell system online
16:37:07		harish pillay	why?
16:37:24		harish pillay	does microsoft restrict sales of n-series online?
16:37:56		Dell Rep	i’m not too sure on that but V13 has being replaced by the V130
16:38:23		harish pillay	ok, so I would like to buy a v130 without an OS (I will settle for freedos).
16:38:36		harish pillay	i prefer the n-series v-130 then.
16:39:51		Dell Rep	the V130 is not offering any Free DOS version at the moment
16:40:01		Dell Rep	let me check on the availability of the V13
16:40:13		Dell Rep	we do offer Free DOS offline
16:40:50		harish pillay	it does not matter if it has freedos or fedora (or even ubuntu). i want to buy the machine without any microsoft os.
16:41:07		Dell Rep	any particular specifications on your mind?
16:41:47		harish pillay	i will be running Fedora and/or Red Hat Enterprise Linux on them. I have the apps taken care of already.
16:42:22		Dell Rep	any specific hardware requirement
16:42:51		harish pillay	Why don’t you focus on asking about the OS? the hardware is OK as it is.
16:43:25		harish pillay	64-bit, 8G would be nice, but 4G RAM is OK. USB (3.0 would be nice), bluetooth, wifi.
16:43:55		Dell Rep	please note that you may find difficulties for the correct drivers as we have not tested on the compatibility of the drivers with the OS you intend to install
16:44:13		harish pillay	not that you support windoze drivers anyway.
16:44:17		Dell Rep	any other hardware requirement
16:44:33		harish pillay	none
16:44:52		Dell Rep	also is this purchase are for your company or personal?
16:45:05		harish pillay	does it matter?
16:45:27		Dell Rep	i need to generate the quotation for you
16:45:51		harish pillay	Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100, Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller,
16:46:19		harish pillay	is there a price difference if the quote was for corporate vs consumer?
16:47:02		Dell Rep	there’s no difference unless your company has a specific contract with Dell
16:47:40		harish pillay	fair enough. give me the consumer quote first.
16:48:32		Dell Rep	can i have your full legal name, address as well as your contact no
16:49:04		harish pillay	. harish pillay, address
16:50:27		Dell Rep	alright, let me work the quotation and emailed it to you?
16:50:40		harish pillay	ok. h.pillay@ieee.org
16:50:47		Dell Rep	noted
16:52:22		harish pillay	so are we done or what?
16:52:42		Dell Rep	unless you’ve others to add.
16:53:04		harish pillay	so the quote will be without windows?
16:53:12		Dell Rep	yes
16:55:26		harish pillay	that’s fine. can you provide me with the quote that shows with and without windows?
16:55:37		harish pillay	i want to know the difference.
16:55:42		Dell Rep	alright
16:55:46		harish pillay	not that i want windows.
16:56:50		harish pillay	are you mailing the quote now?
16:57:17		Dell Rep	give me about 5 mins and i shall be able to send it to you
16:57:56		harish pillay	ok thanks. i will be keeping this chat transcript and blanking out your name.
16:58:12		Dell Rep	thanks
16:58:57		harish pillay	the reason for keeping the chat transcript is so that I can post this to my blog stating that there is a way to buy non-windows Dell machines but one has to ask for it.
16:59:26		harish pillay	so, keeping your name off the transcript is key as it is not you but your organization that is at fault here.
16:59:32		Dell Rep	we do have regular request for n-series of system from time by time
17:00:20		Dell Rep	we do not offer is sometimes to avoid misunderstanding from certain customers where they look for the cheapest system and only to find out that no OS was installed
17:00:33		harish pillay	and I want to make it a permanent request and something that I can find from your online catalog. As long as it does not appear, I think Dell is doing the whole world a disservice and pandering to Microsoft’s monopolistic heavyhand.
17:00:33		Dell Rep	we had that quite a lot previously
17:00:56		Dell Rep	that’s the reason we choose to offer all with the OS preinstalled
17:01:00		harish pillay	and if you explain to people, they will understand.
17:01:26		Dell Rep	not all customer are as understanding as you
17:01:39		harish pillay	so long as dell hides the info (or makes it hard to find), these misunderstandings can happen.
17:02:07		Dell Rep	we have lots of customer who choose the cheapest and only to find out that no OS is installed
17:02:57		Dell Rep	we don’t really hide the info as long as a customer request for it, we’ll be able to offer
17:03:22		Dell Rep	we just limit them options online to avoid misunderstanding
17:03:37		Dell Rep	anyway perhaps we may work out something in future
17:17:37		Dell Rep	i’ve just emailed both quotation to you. could you please check and revert
17:23:28		Dell Rep	Is there anything else I may assist you? If there’s no further assistance required, you may email me at DELL REP @dell.com shall you need further assistance / clarifications.
17:32:49		System	The session has ended!

I have received a quotation for the Dell Vostro V13 and here are the numbers:

a) S$887.15 for the N-series

b) S$1045.79 for the same machine with ‘doze.

Hardware: Vostro V13 System Base (SU7300)Intel® Core?2 Duo Processor SU7300 (1.3GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) ULV, 13.3HDF Anti-glare LED LCD panel with camera, 4GB (1X4G) DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 1 DIMM500GB* Hard Drive, 7200 RPM, 6-cell Lithium Ion Sealed 30Whr Battery, Integrated Graphic CardIntel(R) Wireless Network Card 5100 (802.11a/g/n)Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth ModuleInternal Dell(TM) Keyboard (English).

So, the Windows-tax is S$158.64. Now you know.