Michael Dell in Limerick on monday next

jbkenn

xsiborg wrote: »

nice try to speak down from the moral high ground though, you are entitled to your opinion on the common deceny of others, i for one though dont have a problem being held to account for anything i posted, but if you feel that anything i or anyone else posted could be construed as having offended you personally, a helpful tip is to use the "report post" button.

Not speaking down from moral high ground, and not offended in the least, just my opinion, and I can assure you I don't need any lesson on boards etiquette from a newby like you , here is another one, if you feel you have no problem being held to account for anything you have posted, why don't you post under your actual name?.
Me?, I post under an abbreviation of my initials and surname.

BESman

jbkenn wrote: »

There are a lot of people's name being bandied around here by anonymous boards posters, in fairness to these people, the fact that they were senior management in Dell, and known to former Dell employee's does not, in my opinion, entitle posters to drag their name into the public domain.
Have a bit of common decency.

Don't really see any relevance to this post at all. Why can't former Dell employees mention semi-public figures on a forum? Common decency is a bit overkill. Talking about sensitive issues over public forums requires common decency. Mentioning the names of senior management involved in business decisions hardly requires one to consider common decency. If it becomes slanderous or similar then thats a different story, but it would still not fall into the grounds of common decency. Whether it was your intention or not, this does reek of high moral ground territory and arouses suspicion in me for one, that you may know the individuals involved. If so, I can support such a reaction as no one likes to see the names of individuals you might know being dragged through the mud on a public forum.

jbkenn

BESman wrote: »

Don't really see any relevance to this post at all.

Refer you to my post above yours.
The people mentioned in these posts were senior managers, even "Directors" in Dell, and, believe it or not had no say in Dell's corporate decision making, no more than the Irish management of any Irish based Multi National, forget the spin.
Dell built an incredible business model on "box shifting", in its time it was the dogs bollix, that was then, race run, this is now.
At the end of this month I will be shutting down my Dell servers and transferring their function to Cloud based HP Blade servers for less cost per month than the electricity cost of running my own servers, this is the new reality.
If it were not for one application, I would not need a P.C., Laptop or Microsoft, I can run my business from my iPhone or Samsung Galaxy tablet, so long as I have internet access.
So, if you work for Dell, Intel, Microsoft etc., you no longer feature in my foreseeable technological future, whether you are located in Ireland or not, this may change in time, I don't know.

xsiborg

jbkenn wrote: »

here is another one, if you feel you have no problem being held to account for anything you have posted, why don't you post under your actual name?.
Me?, I post under an abbreviation of my initials and surname.

i too post under an abbreviation of my initials, but my surname is my full surname, and specially for your benefit, my real name is-

Xavier Sebastian Ignatius Borg.

i had my e-mail address in my profile, i removed it however when a jourrnalist lurking in the forums chose to contact me regarding something i had posted. i too cannot stand media spin and sensationalism.

it's ok, i don't question your decision not to post under your real name either, nor would i assume you were answerable to me for what you post on a forum. as i already stated, you would only need to answer to the gardai in the event of a case being taken against boards for slander based on your comments.

jbkenn wrote: »

Refer you to my post above yours.
The people mentioned in these posts were senior managers, even "Directors" in Dell, and, believe it or not had no say in Dell's corporate decision making, no more than the Irish management of any Irish based Multi National, forget the spin

this has already been mentioned on the thread, read my post back on page 2, glad we agree on something though.

jbkenn wrote: »

Dell built an incredible business model on "box shifting", in its time it was the dogs bollix, that was then, race run, this is now.

thanks for that, first valid contribution to the thread, in my opinion at least.

jbkenn wrote: »

At the end of this month I will be shutting down my Dell servers and transferring their function to Cloud based HP Blade servers for less cost per month than the electricity cost of running my own servers, this is the new reality.
If it were not for one application, I would not need a P.C., Laptop or Microsoft, I can run my business from my iPhone or Samsung Galaxy tablet, so long as I have internet access.
So, if you work for Dell, Intel, Microsoft etc., you no longer feature in my foreseeable technological future, whether you are located in Ireland or not, this may change in time, I don't know.

im sure your business decision will have a severe impact on Dell, Intel, Microsoft's bottom line. as previously already stated, dell on a BAD DAY, would ship over 20,000 computers, some of which too were servers worth in excess of €130,000 EACH.

in short, that's not just a high horse you're on, it's Pegasus, now with bigger wings, as your posts do tend to come across as self important rants, rather tedious to comb through and decipher, let alone extract, a point worth replying to.

this thread has gone WAY off topic, but at least by keeping it civil we have shown the Mods that we can have a sensible more general discussion on dell in Limerick, so hopefully they wont feel it is necessary to lock it for going OT.

Amazotheamazing

Dell simply proves that people in Limerick feel they are owed something.

Limerick, and Ireland in general, needs to develop it's own industries. And Limerick people, and Irish people in general, need to support Irish businesses.

xsiborg

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Dell simply proves that people in Limerick feel they are owed something.

Limerick, and Ireland in general, needs to develop it's own industries. And Limerick people, and Irish people in general, need to support Irish businesses.

sums it perfectly and succinctly in my opinion.

i suppose we'll find out tomorrow, could all have been a big deal over nothing, just visiting to make an appearance and see how the operations that are left here are going. he took his foot off the accelerator once and dell rocketed downhill, i doubt he'll be making that same mistake again, and keeping a closer eye on things.

simon have you got those eggs boiled yet?

johnmolloy554

Michael Dell isn't here just to check in on what the lads are doing or on a PR trip, he employs people to do that. I heard a rumour two months ago that a substantial jobs announcement was impending, utilising the current facility. High end jobs also which maybe is the reason why he is here and the painters and landscapers were on site. We'll know in 15 hours.

xsiborg

johnmolloy554 wrote: »

Michael Dell isn't here just to check in on what the lads are doing or on a PR trip, he employs people to do that. I heard a rumour two months ago that a substantial jobs announcement was impending, utilising the current facility. High end jobs also which maybe is the reason why he is here and the painters and landscapers were on site. We'll know in 15 hours.

oh if only i had even a cent for every time i heard a story about dell that started off with that phrase John...

Kess73

xsiborg wrote: »

Xavier Sebastian Ignatius Borg.

I always thought your username was some kind of spin on Zoidberg from Futurama, but now it is a far cooler username given that it is based on what I think is a pretty awesome full name.:)

nirvanaholic

I wonder if Mr.Dell realises how awfully made his laptops are. I own one and its constantly giving me bother. Never buying one again..

gloobag

nirvanaholic wrote: »

I wonder if Mr.Dell realises how awfully made his laptops are. I own one and its constantly giving me bother. Never buying one again..

It doesn't matter who you buy from these days, Dell, Apple, HP, Sony etc... They're all made in the same factories, with mostly the same components.

bazz26

All made in Taiwan.

Cookiemunster

gloobag wrote: »

It doesn't matter who you buy from these days, Dell, Apple, HP, Sony etc... They're all made in the same factories, with mostly the same components.

Yup. Foxconn have a campus with tens of thousands of employees in China and make Dell and many other brands of computers. They run down the same manufacturing lines.

Berty

What is the big deal where they are built in relation to the manufactured quality of the unit?

The Components themselves will normally come from Asia and it is only a matter of assembly at that stage. Obviously they can assemble them for cheaper.

In relation to Limerick people vs the end of Dell. I distinctly remember that Dell brought in Staff from Scotland(that didn't end well) and then staff from India(I believe). Limerick still had unemployment back then so what was happening?

I was around as well during the CMS days. That was a total crock. Crooks is all I can say.

Also, I never worked for Dell just so you know. I was a Sub Contractor in Dell hence some knowledge of the factory floor.

AnCapaillMor

Don't remember indians but there was a malaysians for a quarter, there was a load of spanish people brought in a year or so after the misfated scots and its true what you say about the unemployment when dell were recruting on roundabouts and had massive open days in hotels there was still a lot of unemployed in limk.

On a sidenote when we were at our height(ireland) and had supposed full employment with around 300k people having emigrated here for work we still had 100K or more claiming, that always annoyed me and it annoys me even more when some idiot keeps going on about foreigners taking our jobs.

Twin-go

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Don't remember indians but there was a malaysians for a quarter, there was a load of spanish people brought in a year or so after the misfated scots and its true what you say about the unemployment when dell were recruting on roundabouts and had massive open days in hotels there was still a lot of unemployed in limk.

On a sidenote when we were at our height(ireland) and had supposed full employment with around 300k people having emigrated here for work we still had 100K or more claiming, that always annoyed me and it annoys me even more when some idiot keeps going on about foreigners taking our jobs.

100% agree, There was no excuse between 1999 and 2006 for claiming dole. If you were fit and able you should have been working.

gloobag

Well, there was no announcements whatsoever. It was basically a Q&A session with questions that were so obviously scripted it was cringe worhty.

Most of his answers involved a lot of HP bashing on his part to be honest.

I really have no idea what the whole point of it all was supposed to be.

Berty

gloobag wrote: »

I really have no idea what the whole point of it all was supposed to be.

Maybe then it was a case of "Well I'm visiting Cherrywood so I may as well tip my cap to the guys in Limerick"

AnCapaillMor

Think it was partly due to the first system being shipped 20 years ago. It wasn't bad actually, i've been to worse.

donutheadhomer

So what did Mr Dell say today?

xsiborg

gloobag wrote: »

Well, there was no announcements whatsoever. It was basically a Q&A session with questions that were so obviously scripted it was cringe worhty.

Most of his answers involved a lot of HP bashing on his part to be honest.

I really have no idea what the whole point of it all was supposed to be.

honestly i had figured as much, i remember the last time he was over and a Q&A session was organised out in Castletroy, and they picked certain people who "asked the best questions", got to ask Michael Dell the questions themselves.

as you mentioned gloobag, so scripted it really was cringeworthy. the most memorable part of his visit for me was when he visited EMF3 with the nanny and the kids in tow, not joking lads, twas a case of how the nanny didnt trip over our tongues i'll never know!

as an aside, never let it be said the scots did know how to party hard, they left a legacy on Mount Kennet that the re-housed regeneration crowd, try as hard as they may, will never live up to! good times!

Berty

xsiborg wrote: »

as an aside, never let it be said the scots did know how to party hard, they left a legacy on Mount Kennet that the re-housed regeneration crowd, try as hard as they may, will never live up to! good times!

I like to believe the rumour that they managed to knock through around 5 partitions walls turning one floor into one humongous super Apartment.

I remember reading the article in the Scottish Times or similar newspaper saying they were treated like criminals because one or two of them has snuck out some memory chips in their socks.

Here's a related article

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WVI/is_1999_Oct_18/ai_57099467/

xsiborg

gloobag wrote: »

Most of his answers involved a lot of HP bashing on his part to be honest.

HP bashing was the order of the day too when HP and Compaq announced they were joining up, Dell (and many industry "experts" too it has to be said!) poured scorn on the idea, as they were number one in the world at the time, this is what i was referring to earlier when i said michael dell took his eye off the ball, handing the role over to kevin rollins- within five years, HP/Compaq merger proved everybody wrong and by the time michael dell woke up, Dell were caught well short in the race to try and catch up with the likes of an emerging acer who were blazing a trail and eating up the scraps of market share that dell had scattered. HP/Compaq meanwhile were streaking ahead.

it was around this time that i asked Nicky Hartery why were dell not looking at putting AMD chips in dell computers, as HP had been doing this for a while, and were managing to make a more stylish laptop for a hell of a lot cheaper (i should know, i bought the HP DV9565ea in harvey norman for €1800, €400 less than the equivalent spec great big bulky Dell XPS, simply because it used an AMD processor instead of Intel).

The reply i got was simply that Dell is constantly looking at technology and right now we feel that intel is the way to go. I couldn't find any sort of logic in his answer, until a couple of years later when this came out:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/23/technology/dell_intel/index.htm

According to the SEC's complaint against Dell, Intel paid the computer maker rebates as part of a deal in which Dell agreed not use microchips manufactured by Intel's rival AMD. We're not talking small change: The payments totaled $4.3 billion between 2003 and 2006.

That's actually not what landed Dell in hot water. Instead, Dell was charged with defrauding its investors by pretending that those payments were operating income. The maneuver artificially inflated Dell's balance sheet and helped it beat Wall Street's earnings estimates for four years.

gloobag wrote: »

Dell is in serious cost cutting mode right now due to some budgetary **** up last quarter.

wouldn't be the first time there was a *cough* "budgetary **** up", honestly, with the amount of time i spent with my head stuck in excel spreadsheets on a daily basis filing reports and going over figures, you would swear dell hired two year old children that couldn't do basic maths to balance their books! :rolleyes:

xsiborg

Beer Baron wrote: »

I like to believe the rumour that they managed to knock through around 5 partitions walls turning one floor into one humongous super Apartment.

I remember reading the article in the Scottish Times or similar newspaper saying they were treated like criminals because one or two of them has snuck out some memory chips in their socks.

Here's a related article

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WVI/is_1999_Oct_18/ai_57099467/

great find BB, the article dated 18th Oct '99, exactly a week before i started on 25th Oct '99...

Berty

xsiborg wrote: »

great find BB, the article dated 18th Oct '99, exactly a week before i started on 25th Oct '99...

I think I first walked in the doors in around July 1998 with CMS(of course they probably claimed there were 2 of me :eek: ), left for another company, and like a vicious black hole of Limerick, I found myself back in Dell working as a Sub Contractor.

I know 6 people who have been there since 1993 and one since 1994 poached before AST wound up.( didn't start till the cheque from AST cleared of course in reduncancy )

3 of them are still there right now. They have had a good run from the 3 big companies, Wang, AST and now Dell. The technology boom is still on their side although wavering slightly under them.

I was asked by Dec D(as people don't like names anymore) a few times to return but declined. I'm glad I never returned in hindsight.

Ash.J.Williams

Is it true WANG were setting up a customer care centre in Limerick called "wang care"?

Berty

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Is it true WANG were setting up a customer care centre in Limerick called "wang care"?

Wang believe it or not still operate out of Shannon under a different name and oddly enough they are the in home / in business servicing team for Dell Systems.

Wang Care. No Idea.

xsiborg

Beer Baron wrote: »

I was asked by Dec D(as people don't like names anymore) a few times to return but declined. I'm glad I never returned in hindsight.

One of the nicest people i met in dell actually, i think he was glad to see the back of me though he saved my ass more times when i was dragged up to HR for my various, em, "misdemeanours", lol, when i wasn't caught on camera down on the lines trying to burst one of them massive airbags under the forks of a forklift, i was the guy that sprayed farting gas inside a number of optiplex clamshell chassis' in the kitting area so that when the builders opened them they got a facefull!

how was i to know i'd sprayed so much that it went into the ventilation system and circulated all round the factory? of course it didnt help either that i'd sprayed it on the trolleys in extended test so that when the lads went to take systems from the escalators... phew!

no you were right too, for a long time the phrase used when anyone left dell was "he'll be back!", some did come back, but most went on to bigger and better things, myself included, i got out as i said before the proverbial hit the fan, always wanted to be self employed, even if my wife does think im a proper c*nt to work for!!


EDIT: i just realised, this post makes me sound like one too!

Berty

xsiborg wrote: »

EDIT: i just realised, this post makes me sound like one too!

No No you see we have fond memories.

In EMF1 where the systems were on their way to the backend of the lines they used to travels up and down and all over the shop. We stuffed a lad into one of the boxs and put it through the tape machines so the box was essentially sealed. We spotted a boss coming and legged it. He dissapeared off along the lines and, as you can imagine, when we went looking for him we couldn't figure out what box he was in until we saw it moving and shouting(box's don't normally shout).

When EMF1 was being stripped down it was being used like PACO for storage. The lads had made themselves a rounders court and being the good sport I joined in. Again, one of the floor managers came around and we vanished into the maze of boxes. As the lines were all gone the box's were stacked everywhere. Needle in haystack.

I had a red neck cord, yellow neck cord, black neck cord and green neck cord, two pagers and a mobile at one stage towards the end of my sub contracting days YET managed to do sweet FA.

Having 30 minutes breakfasts and 1.5 hour lunchs was grand though. If my boss, from across town, wanted to visit he would have to wait until I signed him in. So I always knew where he was.

Watching the old hands on the bus in trick their friend at the bus stop. "Right so sham you have to pay 50c to get the bus, sure you hardly thought the bus was free" only to piss themselves laughing when the bus driver looked at him funny.

Watching guys impatient to get into work() climb out the fire exit at the back of the bus and get a bollicking off a bus driver.

Watch the two bus's crash at the exit of Raheen because they were ACTUALLY racing was weird because the window shattered in on a few people when the wing mirror collided half way down our bus.

Ah those were the days.

Everybody from Dell days has Dell stories.

EDIT Oh yeah, in the early days putting a power supply of the wrong voltage in the chassis so when the guys in the testing area plugged them in they got a shock up the arm.

xsiborg

Beer Baron wrote: »

EDIT Oh yeah, in the early days putting a power supply of the wrong voltage in the chassis so when the guys in the testing area plugged them in they got a shock up the arm.

i remember something like that happening in one line in build where the PSU's at that stage came built into the chass', the PSU's had been set to the incorrect voltage- cue builders getting shocked and seeing dollar signs in their eyes, and smoking motherboards when plugged in to test. you'd have thought they'd have said "hold on, somethings wrong!", but when systems had to be put together in 30 seconds or less and builders needed the numbers, and managers wanted to keep the line moving, what's a few thousand euros added the scrap metrics... :rolleyes:

ohh some of the stories were priceless, too many off the top of my head, lol, like when i was out for a smoke in the smoking area, and a cleaner came running out accompanied by two of her mates, shaking she was, i overheard the general gist of it was she'd walked in on three lads up to no good in the one cubicle! :eek:

that was the same night there were reports of aerials being ripped off cars in the car park!

then there was the questionable story of the chap in PPIC who took a fancy to a particular spanish senorita in kitting, put up a wall of boxes around himself, and, well... im nearly sure he was fired after he fired off!

and no, that WASNT me this time!