I see that Dell has done a deal with Google to bundle Google software on new machines. As a Dell customer – a happy one at that, which seems to make me unusual, I plan to buy another one when I upgrade. I am not, however, happy with this news:
Computer giant Dell and internet search engine Google have reached a deal to install Google software on Dell’s PCs before they leave the factory.
The Dell computers will contain Google software including several personal computer applications, a Google toolbar and a co-branded homepage.
Although details are patchy at the moment, you only have to look at Google’s business model to realise what this is likely to entail:
Instead of selling software to make a profit, Google makes money by selling advertising to firms that want access to those who use its free products.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise that Dell computers will be used to deliver advertising to its customer base using Google software. Being something of a purist, I like a clean install on machines I buy – the operating system and nothing else. No customised software or tweaks to the OS and absolutely, definitely, no advertising. There is a time and a place for advertising. I will not succumb to adverts on my blog as I consider it a personal space and it is also why I don’t have a G-mail account. I do not want to be bombarded with unwarranted ads in my email or on my personal space. I do have Google’s Adsense on my consumer site, Rogue Trader Watch as I felt it may be worth a try, this being all about consumer issues after all. But as it hasn’t generated any income, it proved to be a waste of time – not that that worries me as it isn’t my main site and it just sits there as a resource for consumer information if people want it. The difference here is; I chose to have ads on that site and it is not a personal space. The big word here is “choice”.
In general, though, I agree with Alice Bachini-Smith when she says:
I do not want big advertising on my blog, the front of my house, tattooed on my forehead, or anywhere about my territory, and I do cringe at the sight of otherwise nice-looking people and things decorated with ugly great banners selling big blue things that disturb the visual peace…
…there is a time and a place for everything, and the time and place for the latest big corporate advertising campaign should, in this day and age, definitely be wherever I don’t have to look at it.
The same applies to my computer desktop. This means that when I buy my next machine, I’ll have to reformat the disk to get rid of the Google crap and reinstall a clean OS – that is my choice. I would just prefer it not to be necessary.
Take it easy, easy, easy… a couple of things:
Windows is one big advert for you-know-who. Dell is swapping out Microsoft’s internet explorer for the open source (free software) browser, Firefox. This is a not-for-profit application, like Linux. Similarly with other bundled applications, replacing Microsoft’s shoddy fare for open-souce stuff.
Where you are right is that the browser will replace its Microsoft preinstalled home-page, for the Google home page.
When it comes to abusing users with intrusive advertising, this deal comes pretty close to “doing-no-evil”.
Fair comment – you appear to have more info on the deal than I do.
I already use Firefox and junk all of the add-ons in Windows when I do an install. As I said in the article, I want a clean OS. Anything else I add is what I need and no more.
The best “do no evil” though has to be no advertising, no add-on junk and a clean OS with no additions whatsoever. It would be nice if, when starting a machine for the first time, we were given that option.