Dell Testing of Windows Vista

re: Dell Testing of Windows Vista

Val — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:13:38 GMT

I have recently installed Vista on a GX240 with 768MB RAM and a 32MB video card. It works well. I use VirtualPC 2007 running Windows XP sp2 to connect with a Novell network. I limited the VirtualPC to 128MB RAM, and it's a little slow and taxes the CPU pretty hard. Otherwise, all is well, and I can do everything I used to do with Windows XP and still have the advantages of Vista. Next, I will be setting up dual monitors, splitting the VirtualPC session onto the second so I will effectively have an XP desktop and a Vista desktop side-by-side.

Cheers!

re: Dell Testing of Windows Vista

fa121 — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:55:00 GMT

does dell gx240 support windows vista plese mail your answer to my email address

....fahad

re: Dell Testing of Windows Vista

Pat W — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:46:24 GMT

Bob Bob, if you're just going to weigh in with opinions and no real knowledge or facts to back yourself up, may I suggest you post on Digg instead. Your post would match up with the level of most comments there.

re: Dell Testing of Windows Vista

Bob Bob Bobin — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 22:20:38 GMT

Hmmm! Kinda a waste of 10.5 billion manhours (wazit)? At least so I think.

Dell, don't waste your time and mob\ney. I'm not gonna touch Vista with a 10-foot bargepole till at leat SP1 or maybe SP2. If there is no real added functionality (as opposed to Microsoft's added funk-tionality) I am not gonna put this machine-crushing peice of fertilizer on my system at all. And, I suspect, nobody but the kiddies (no experience, no background) will be either.

Any orders that I make from Dell FOR AT LEAST 3 YEARS are going to have XP as the OS. If not I want a blank system. Who needs an gargantuan, elephanatine OS loading down your machine? This may be just the impetus I need to check out Linux.

Wake up folks! Vista is just Microsoft's way of shoving DRM down our throats. All it will result in is a loss of control over your (hugely expensive) bought and paid-for machines to Crazy Bill Balmer - the recently escaped CEO.

Oh, I forgot, Vista will also give you pretty pictures. O pretty, pretty, so pretty. Let's give the nice man our first-born child to that nice bald man leaping around there, going "Ggguurrrgggg!". PRETTY!!

Dell Testing of Windows Vista

Donna's SecurityFlash — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 21:30:28 GMT

Dell reports via their blog how their labs tests Vista to later prepare their customers with Vista (those

re: Dell Testing of Windows Vista

Shane Nokes — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 23:51:18 GMT

Just a note I wanted to put here.

Your math is severely flawed. Here's why.

You said:

"The answer involves over 100,000 hours of testing, hundreds of engineers, and as mentioned in the previous blog a staggering number of test configurations. (By the way; 100,000 hours to over equates to over 52 years)"

Ok you may be telling the truth about the 100,000 hours of testing. However you're not telling the truth about how many years that number of hours equates to.

There are 24 hours in every day. There are 365 days in a year.

365x24= 8760

So take 100,000 and divide it by 8760 since that's the number of hours in a year.

100,000/8760= app. 11.4

So that's 11.4 years of man hours.

That means if you guys have been hard at it for 1 year then there are only 33-36 people working on the whole project, not hundreds. (Logic behind that is 11-12 people per shift for your man hours, if all things are equal, of course)

If you've been at it for longer than that then the number of people drops down to even fewer.

So could you have meant nearly a half-million man hours maybe?

I estimate you'd need 455,520 man hours to equal 52 years worth of work. That would be you around 156 people total working on the project, 52 people per shift. (That's with all things being equal)

Now there could be hundreds putting in small pieces of work each, but then you are still selling yourself short on the number of man hours used.

If I were you I would brag about the nearly half-million man hours required for your estimate in years ;)

re: Dell Testing of Windows Vista

S Jain — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:25:01 GMT

Someone just forwarded me an e-mail that you sent to your customers about urging people to upgrade their PC for upcoming Vista.

They wanted to know what is Vista!

I think many of your customers are unaware of what is Vista. Beyond tech circles few people keep upto date with such news. People may find out about Vista near the launch date through media, but currently there is very low visibility among your customers.

You may want to educate your customer about Windows Vista. Maybe send an e-mail with all the new features like flash graphics etc.

re: Dell Testing of Windows Vista

Bill — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 22:25:12 GMT

over 100,000 hours of testing, hundreds of engineers

Just wondering, how many man-hours of testing do you estimate you have put into making Linux run well, at least on your open-source desktops?

Linux can pretty much do everything M$ Vista does at a fraction of the price. This includes 3D-graphics eyecandy through the Beryl window manager and bleeding edge games like Cold War and id Software's Quake 4. You can get a copy of Sabayon Linux Live-DVD to try out some of these cool (and free!) innovations.

re: Dell Testing of Windows Vista

Brian Hoyt — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 18:48:16 GMT

I was just wondering how far back your testing will go. I am most interested in the Optiplex line. I figure the GX240 is beyond the scope since most will be out of the extended 5 year warranty period. How about the GX260, 270, 280? I assume all still shipping lines such as GX620 will get certified and have drivers available. Thanks.

re: Dell Testing of Windows Vista

Dell Lied — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:02:21 GMT

It looks like the Vista lauch is going to really test the limits of the changes Dell is making to customer sales/service/support groups, and the Dell Customer Forums.

Please encourage even your least technical staff to review your findings on Vista, so they may even minimally grok the technically laced mumbly-speak your customer base will assuredly assault them with.

I wish everyone at Dell luck with the upcoming Vista madness...err transition. Your customers will need you at your best.

-DL