<p>By the way, I thought that Michael Dell is no longer the CEO of the computer company he created. He still may be a board member or have an executive position, but I believe he sold his controlling interest years ago.</p>
<p>The fun continues.</p>
<p>Dell cancelled the latest (2nd) replacement order yesterday, and has not re-ordered. </p>
<p>It is pretty clear to me that they have no intention of replacing the machine. After all, I can’t imagine that a company as big and reputable as Dell could really be this inept.</p>
<p>So it leads me to conclude that for reasons only known to them, they wanted to keep the components they induced us to send in. Maybe they found something interesting on my D’s hard drive? In other words, fraudulent conveyance. </p>
<p>This is really all too sad. Now we must go through the hassle of buying a new computer in the UK, at additional cost, I need to waste time in court and such. </p>
<p>But such is life, I guess. </p>
<p>Morals:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Always back up, especially before sending something out for repair.</p></li>
<li><p>If things don’t come back promptly, change passwords and such that might be on the HDD. </p></li>
<li><p>Be wary of extended service contracts.</p></li>
<li><p>Draw your own conclusions regarding Dell’s integrity.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Newmass:</p>
<p>Regarding the Apple, on the new macs, you can also run windows on them for applications that only run under windows. I do this very successfully with a few work applications that have not been ported yet. Added cost would be the cost of a windows license.</p>