Re: Ridin' Through Gateway Country, Roundin' up details....

["Robert G. Brown" <bob@xxxxxxx>]

>>...I've been chattering about going to "Gateway Country",....
>>The purpose of this is not to poke fun at the dumb salespeople, suddenly 
>>revealing to them what a genius I am or something. ....
>Kudos for the idea and the effort expended.
Thank you! All this talk about "promoting Linux" can fall flat if we don't 
know how the mainstrean sells its stuff.

>> By "useful information" I mean WHY would someone want to buy something,....
>As you note, the mark of a good salesperson is to find out what the
>customer wants and then move heaven and earth to give it to them....
Which in no way resembles what I was party to during my foray into Gateway 
Country. The one perosn I had contact with DIDN'T appear to want to know what
I wanted, and she didn't want to try to find out. As for moving heaven and 
earth....hmmm..

>Trying to cater to imagined or nonexistent needs is just stabbing in the 
>dark, and benefits neither the seller nor the buyer (that is, if the sel-
>ler has any desire whatsoever to build a positive reputation).
Right, and with what happened, those needs REMAIN unknown, at least.

>>Like for an extra $99, They load NT Instead of Win95 (a reasonable deal
>Shucks, that IS a good deal, considering the price of NT. I assume it's the
>single-user workstation version?
I also assume... like NT WS 4.0... Again, asking a question that specific 
(and the follow-ons, like "And do I get those service packs?") would blow
my cover.

Sorry, I'm not blown away by the price. Given the volume NT must ship, it's
all profit to someone (either M$ or GW). Remember, the marginal cost of the
NEXT copy of software tends toward zero.  Also, any of these computer shows
(see our links page for one) will bring you an OEM shrink wrapped version
(with licence and disk keys) for about $70-90, depending on ???


>>But the question that I was waiting for... even broadly hinted that she
>>should ask: "What are you going to use the computer for, anyway?" Just never
>>came up. It was like she didn't want to know. So there I was, without enough 
>>knowledge to make a good choice, and the salesperson wasn't about to help me.
>I consider myself a salesperson for the idea of minimal computing, since
>most of my friends are "income-challenged" in one form or another. 
I am also a salesperson for minimal computing, but more on principle than
anything else. Why buy a flamethrower with a good book of matches will do?
I've talked people out of buying something that cost the downpayment on the 
next Volvo by showing them my AT, on which I still do the bulk of my word 
processing, and I still keep my financial records there.

>So the first thing I always ask is what they want or need the computer to do.
>Often that's the hardest part. Once they've thought about it and the issues
>have been clarified, it's much easier to tailor hardware and software to
>their specific intentions. ....
EXACTLY, Let's see if "your:)Ware" [tm] includes this. If it doesn't I'm going
to be REALLY disappointed.

>> ....no aid extended at that point, but it was clear that if I wanted 
>> to go for the top o'the line box (at $3499) they wouldn't stand in my way...
>Too many people end up like my stepsister, who bought a "loaded" Gateway
>box and has come to realize she could have gotten by with a lot less....
There are 'way too many of those. One guy who I talked out of a 133Mhz 
P5 about 2 1/2 years ago (and into a 150.00 AT special) has now bought a state
of the art machine for 3D modeling and raytracing.... using the money he saved
on the first purchase, plus interest!

>(Regarding [uninformed] consumer-level computing, the iMac looks bad in the
>expandability area unless USB takes off in a big way.....
How does all this effect Linux (Question for everyone)?

>Thanks again for your comments, and I'm looking forward to your followup
>covert visit and report.
If and when it happens. I think it's going to be a lot harder to play someone
who has read just enough to be completely confused than it is to do someone 
who is well intentioned, but ignorant.

We'll see :)  Again, anyone have any ideas?

                                                           Regards,
                                                           ---> RGB <---