Thursday, July 19, 2007

Why Dell deals are nothing extraordinary

Computer maker Dell's India executives are bullish about its fortunes, with the impending opening of a manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.

The international outlook for the company now led by its founder Michael Dell is less rosy, and "Dell Continues to Sink" as this blog from the New York Times indicates.

As someone who bought an expensive Vista Home Premium-preloaded Dell desktop recently, I was surprised at the impersonal way in which the company deals with its customers. One must grant Dell a reasonably high level of efficiency in order taking and supply, but after that, the company does not seem to be really concerned about the customer. The salesman from Hewlett Packard called me three times and promised total on-site support, but I declined that order because I thought the Dell way was superior. Wrong.

Dell has overpriced but not cutting-edge hardware, such as graphics cards, on offer. But if you buy your own card, they will not instal it for you. What kind of service is that?

We don't expect any long-term handholding by Dell. But we do expect basic courtesy and customer support. Without that, Dell will sell fewer PCs, despite opening a new plant in Sriperumbudur.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Mission Impossible : Chennai minus fly swarms

What tropical country can afford to be without its swarms of insects, which make up the famed biodiversity of these Southern nations?

That question would be applicable to the great natural areas of these countries, such as the deciduous and wet evergreen forests but not the maddening urban agglomeations that are called metros in India.
Take responsibility for your waste. It's your problem, not someone else's
Today's The Hindu has a story on yet another planned onslaught on a rising fly population in the metropolis, which has about 7 million people living in the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA).

The reason for the swarms of house flies invading Chennai neighbourhoods can be found in the proliferating mounds of garbage that are left scattered on the road side. Even in places where privatised garbage collection is found, this is the state of affairs. There is lot of organic matter to which the city population adds its unending supply of spit and phlegm at every turn.

To me, the answer to reducing the fly population lies not in bombarding the streets with poisons that will be absorbed by humans, but by putting organic waste neatly into closed containers, where the flies cannot get at them. But there is no history of the middle class in this metro taking responsibility for its waste. So the flies will have the last laugh.