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SeijiSensei
February 6th, 2013, 07:24 PM
Dell in $24 Billion Deal to Go Private (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/dell-sets-23-8-billion-deal-to-go-private/)


[T]he buyout — which was announced on Tuesday and would be the biggest by far since the days of the recession — is a huge gamble. It will saddle Dell with $15 billion of new debt, and it does nothing to divert the forces reshaping the technology industry and undercutting the company’s business.

Fifteen years ago, Dell made enormous profits from selling customized PCs directly to customers. Six years ago, it was the world’s leading maker of personal computers. Today, it is in third place, behind Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, and falling.

Dell’s share of an already contracting market for PCs slipped to just 10.7 percent last year, from 16.6 percent six years earlier.

Dell's share of the server market is still 22% of new shipments, but the article points out that the growth of the cloud server market has hurt that part of the business as well.

Fifteen billion in new debt is an awfully large burden for a company in such a troubled industry as general-purpose computers are today. I've always liked Dell and have bought machines from them for two decades or more. If the market is going to end up split between HP and Lenovo, I'll choose the latter. People about to make some long-term hardware investments in their organizations might now start looking elsewhere even if they were a Dell shop in the past.

I notice that Microsoft was willing to lend Dell $2 billion but do not appear to have purchased an equity stake. I wonder if they were offered one but declined.

azangru
February 6th, 2013, 08:49 PM
Bye bye project Sputnik?

tgalati4
February 6th, 2013, 09:14 PM
Their choice was a quick death by having someone else buy them--such as Microsoft. Or a slow death by purchasing up their own shares and better managing their own demise.

Which would you choose?

Dell doesn't seem to be in good position right now, and the money needed to buy back shares means they won't have the cash to invest in new ideas.

Look at what is happening to other large technology companies such as Nokia and Blackberry/RIM.

Dragonbite
February 6th, 2013, 09:54 PM
This could be the turn-around they need, too. As I read elsewhere this frees them from SEC paperwork and reporting, as well as having to appease share holders.

This last part means they can accept short-term losses or even just less profit in return for long-term upward motion!

If they announced they were not going to sell any Windows computers and go 100% Linux they may be called a crackpot, and Microsoft may ask for their loan back ($2B) ... but they could! There are no shareholders to pressure the board to oust the CEO and the rest of that political drama.

So while they are constrained by the market, they are free for decision making and even self-destructing if they want!

They could even sell themselves to Canonical if they wanted to.

iamkuriouspurpleoranj
February 6th, 2013, 11:33 PM
Ok, this is silly talk but I'm going to say it anyway as the purpose of this part of the forum is to have fun.

One journalist reported that an expert suggested Dell would buy a services company. What if they bought Canonical? You might come up with many perfectly valid reasons why not. But let's suppose for a moment they did. What would that mean for Ubuntu and what would it mean for Debian and FOSS in general?

Projects like Orchard CMS already show that Microsoft is prepared to play the "community" card when it suits them and Dell is already implicated in server space.

Is it so far fetched?

sammiev
February 6th, 2013, 11:41 PM
Since we are in The Community Cafe and can talk freely. I hope Dell closes there doors and gos to He!! ):P

mastablasta
February 7th, 2013, 08:44 AM
One journalist reported that an expert suggested Dell would buy a services company. What if they bought Canonical? You might come up with many perfectly valid reasons why not. But let's suppose for a moment they did. What would that mean for Ubuntu and what would it mean for Debian and FOSS in general?


Why would Mark sell Canonical? It owudl go against the principles he promotes.

Why would Dell buy them? and with Mircosoft money?
MS loan to Dell will be 2bn $

iamkuriouspurpleoranj
February 7th, 2013, 12:12 PM
While I don't doubt Mark Shuttleworth's commitment to the Ubuntu project, it is possible for people to change their minds.

People are currently talking about MS Office for Linux and I would buy it if it ever came to market. Currently, I am a 100% Linux user and use no MS applications via Wine.

One thing should be clear from this: I am not in anyway a Microsoft customer.

They have no touch points with me with which to build future sales. None whatsoever. I don't even use Skype. To all intents and purposes, I have disappeared from the MS map.

Now, since I am 100% happy with my 100% Linux situation, I might pass this enthusiasm on to other people and "pop" there goes another MS customer.

If MS produces Office for Linux - and there is nothing to suggest they are doing anything more than thinking at this stage and even that is hearsay - they retain contact with Linux users: a platform from which to build future sales. In addition, the fact that many Linux users happily use lots of proprietary software/codecs might suggest to MS that they have a potential market.

If Dell buys Canonical, they acquire the latter's server customers and acquire influence over Ubuntu and by implication some influence over Debian, where let's face it, resistance to the reach of Microsoft is the greatest.

Of course, all this is completely speculative and is basically pub chatter. It could happen but then so could many other things :-)

mörgæs
February 7th, 2013, 12:16 PM
Since we are in The Community Cafe and can talk freely. I hope Dell closes there doors and gos to He!! ):P

You can not talk freely anywhere here. Please observe the Code of Conduct (http://ubuntuforums.org/index.php?page=policy).

A post like this brings little value to the discussion. Another style is appreciated.

mastablasta
February 7th, 2013, 01:28 PM
Of course, all this is completely speculative and is basically pub chatter. It could happen but then so could many other things :-)

yup.

especially since Mark went as far as to establish a fund in case Canonical goes broke or the project doesn't succed so that community could continue with Ubuntu development.

Debian project is independent though some Ubutnu patches do go upstream. most i believe comes down stream though. Microsoft provides auite a bit of patches to linux.

Also there is still that bug no. 1 on launchpad that has to be solved. ;)

Dragonbite
February 7th, 2013, 02:56 PM
Why would Dell buy them(Canonical)? and with Mircosoft money?
MS loan to Dell will be 2bn $

Well, it would be ironic.. or a dirty sneaky plan to undermine Linux.

Linuxratty
February 8th, 2013, 01:21 AM
Well, it would be ironic.. or a dirty sneaky plan to undermine Linux.
I'm going with the dirty,sneaky plan option.

vasa1
February 8th, 2013, 02:28 AM
Embrace, extend and extinguish ...

tgalati4
February 8th, 2013, 04:31 AM
It's hard for a large company such as Dell stay in business when most business users can use a computer the size of a USB flash drive. Raspberry Pi will cover 90% of a business user's paperwork needs. The other 10% is easily covered with an Android phone. So where does Dell fit in? Dell Streak? Dell could make small business computers, but there's no money to be made. You can't run Win7 on a Raspberry Pi, (correction: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1222). It's just a matter of time before these small machines take over the business office computing market--and they will be running Linux!

iamkuriouspurpleoranj
February 8th, 2013, 08:56 AM
This really was just speculative. For fun and to see if someone had a great analytical insight.

The facts are:
- Microsoft invested $2 billion into Dell. Since Microsoft is not a charity, we know that this is part of the their business strategy. Re their precise intentions: How should I know? :-)

- Some website like Business Insider, ZDNet, or PC World reported that an industry expert "opined" that Dell would buy a services company. Could really mean anything. Or nothing.

Is Microsoft evil? Not really. As Michael Corleone in Godfather II said "It's just business." Is Microsoft a competitor? Undeniably - but again "it's just business".

Before we get carried away with conspiracy theories, Dell has signalled no intention to buy a company like Canonical or even to further develop the server side of its business. So there is no real reason to think Dell will buy Canonical. Of course, anything is possible and speculation exists primarily because the future is unknowable.

At the end of the day, Ubuntu is a community and most of the OS is under the GPL. Even if Mark should get bored one day, someone will just fork it and it will continue under some name or other.

So nothing to worry about :-)

Dragonbite
February 8th, 2013, 09:58 PM
Canonical buys Dell, offers Ubuntu computers with full compatibility! Apple gets nervous.

Linuxratty
February 8th, 2013, 10:17 PM
Canonical buys Dell, offers Ubuntu computers with full compatibility! Apple gets nervous.

I'd get a chuckle out of that for sure.:-D

Paqman
February 8th, 2013, 11:04 PM
- Some website like Business Insider, ZDNet, or PC World reported that an industry expert "opined" that Dell would buy a services company. Could really mean anything. Or nothing.


The big news isn't that Dell are going to buy a services company, they're going to become a services company. They've made no secret of the fact that they don't see their future in shipping boxes, but in providing services. Basically they're looking to pull the same trick Big Blue pulled.

I don't think you'll even be able to buy a Dell-branded PC in 10 years time. They'll probably sell that side of the business to someone else. They might spin it off in pieces, I can see the Alienware brand sticking around.