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News and Featured Articles
Dell, Palm Teach
Hard Lessons of Usage, Service (This article
originally appeared in Mass High Tech on September 4, 2000) As a happy user of a Palm III for two years, I eagerly opened up my new Palm V package. I had hit the performance wall with the older unit and was looking forward to packing more information into this remarkable tool. After connecting the new cradle and installing the upgrade software, I was right back doing business as usual...until the end of the day. My Dell Dimension refused to shut down. Every time I went through the Windows Shut-Down sequence, the machine cycled right back up. With eerie recollections of HAL in the movie, 2001, my only resort was to literally unplug the power. I was sure that the operating system had struck again and the installation of the new Palm application software did something to my config file. I called my trusty Dell Support and they patiently led me through a diagnostic process where we took everything off the machine except the label. But, to no avail. My computer refused to stop running. After two hours, the technician was tapped out. He said, "You'll have to reinstall Windows or you might try calling Palm and see if they can help." Loath to undertake the re-installation of my operating system, I called Palm Support. After explaining the situation, the Palm technician replied " You have a Compaq or Dell machine, don't you." Amazed, I confirmed I was using a Dell. He said, "The Palm V will do that when the cradle is plugged into either type of machine." Astounded, I asked what the fix was. Utterly without remorse, he told me that Palm used to send out an older version of the Palm V cradle when someone complained. But they don't have any more of those. Reinstalling Windows won't fix the problem once the Palm application is loaded. The Palm-recommended solution was to crawl under the desk and plug in the cradle serial port connector every time a HotSynch was needed or just leave the machine running. Huh? Astounded, I pressed on. Has Palm alerted its customers? Has Palm notified the Technical Support people at Dell or Compaq? No to both questions, because that would make the issue too visible. Thanking the Palm technician for his honesty at least, I immediately calculated my cost to this marketing magic. Two hours of telephone time with Dell plus two more hours trying to restore my desktop and comm files. Essentially, most of my day was shot. As a businessman, I also thought about the cost implications to Dell. I wrote an email to Michael Dell, describing the situation and how an anonymous Palm marketing manager decided to waste Dell's technical support resources as well as confound Palm's own customers. I didn't write to Palm. Why bother? They already know. In a couple days, I received an email from Michael Dell's office, which thanked me for my letter and told me that they were referring the issue to their Support Management. A reasonable assumption would have been that this ended the story. But no, it doesn't. About a week later, I received a phone message from the Dell product manager responsible for my type of machine. When we got together over the phone, he graciously thanked me again for the information about the bug and casually mentioned that he was going to look into getting the Palm unit removed from the Dell electronic store. "You're kidding," I replied. Dell sells this unit on its own web site!" "Yes we do," he answered. "I guess we should take that off. It's costing us money." About two weeks later, I received a call from Dell. They were interested in learning more about the technical conflict that these two products were having. They offered to swap my system for a brand new Dell so they could have their technicians examine it. My new system arrived last week, making me a lifelong Dell proponent while I remain a serious Palm skeptic. Aside from a great deal of amusement, this incident provides validation of two fundamental truths of the new high technology world. First, there's no guarantee that all this stuff will actually work together, even if you buy it from the same source. But more importantly, both Palm and Dell provide great technology to their customers. But, but Palm management doesn't recognize something that Dell understands very well. Great technology doesn't make great companies. Great management does. Harry G. Graff is President of AJ Mayfair, Inc.. Mr. Graff is an Information Technology executive with experience in four Fortune 500 firms, including Texas Instruments, Apollo Computer, Hewlett Packard, and Honeywell-Bull. Since 1996, AJ Mayfair, Inc. has been working closely with a variety of technology companies to implement electronic commerce processes over the Internet. These projects involve a series of coordinated electronic promotion and e-commerce sites. Harry can be reached at: e-mail: hggraff@ajmayfair.com Tel: 508-541-8413 Fax: 508-520-4136
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