Reader Comments

Huh Huh He said Packard Bell.....

No one should shed a tear for Gateway; hopefully it won't bring Acer down. The last Gateway I bought lasted exactly one month before the hard drive fried. What a cheap POS...even the Frankensystem that the Gateway replaced was better. That system was nothing but trouble (It eventually wound up with a PHB who did little more than send e-mail). Honestly, Waethorn's boyfriend could build a better system. Of course, the dipsh1t that headed up the company's IT department spec'd out the Gateway, so there you have it. Another MCSE certificate put to good use. The best thing Acer could do would be to bury the cow in the field and not look back.

"...Acer controlled about 5.2 percent of the market worldwide for PCs, while Gateway controlled 5.6 six." 5.6 six? Anyways, Gateway acquired eMachines in 2004, so now we have three companies rolled into one? What's funny is that the $450 eTower 400i I bought in 1999 turned out to be one of the best computers I've ever owned - in 2007, a few upgrades later, my family still uses it.

"Waethorn's boyfriend could build a better system." there you go being another a$$hole and bringing me into a conversation that i wasn't going to comment on, troll. i swear that you do this just to turn this site into a dramedy. "Of course, the dipsh1t that headed up the company's IT department spec'd out the Gateway, so there you have it." "The last Gateway I bought lasted exactly one month before the hard drive fried." and as the purchaser, you actually went along with that suggestion? i see not one, but two idiots at your "company". so why didn't you buy Mac's losta? can't afford another one on your weekly allowance? paper route not paying well? can't find enough quarters in between your sofa cushions? seems to me that a "little" Taiwanese computer company sure is beating the bejeezus out of another from Cupertino. "Acer who?", indeed! XP

There you go, RunTimeError...another perfect example of lotsasnarkybonch being an idiotic, know nothing troll!!! --tayme

@tayme: You left out homophobic.

"and as the purchaser, you actually went along with that suggestion?" "Waethorn", I thought you were more familiar with the inner workings of the enterprise than that. We peons at the bottom don't get to argue decisions made by the gods of IT. After all, if you can run a Windows Wizard, you're already smarter than half the administrative staff. I argued against it, but one "the decision is made", you're SOL. "so why didn't you buy Mac's losta?" Again, "Waebonch", it was a corporate decision. And I did have a Mac (in fact, several) in my office. But the PC was there to run a non-Mac program (just as the Macs were there to run non-PC software). Some of us use the right tool for the job. And some of us (look in the mirror, Wae), are just tools. "You left out homophobic." I thought Wae was a female. S/he never said; I just assumed. My apologies if I offended his/her tender sensibilities (or yours, for that matter). But even if Wae is a guy, why can't he have a boyfriend?

@lotsasnarkybonch - You consider yourself a peon? Figures...the only definition of that word that fits in this case is "somebody who does boring menial work" That explains why you feel like you need to troll an IT site, and attempt to discuss things that you have no knowledge of what-so-ever. All of us who actually work in IT have to deal with "users" like you on a daily basis...users who say things like "I know that I didn't delete that important file from the network share, it must have been a server problem...can you restore it to 9:57 this morning?" Oh, and you'll be surprised...I don't have an MCSE...didn't think it was worth it to pay MS to tell me I am qualified...My boss, our users, and I already know that. I am also not "certified" in any of the 8 or 9 other OS's that I support on a regular basis...but I've been through that before...How 'bout you lotsa, what OS's do you support on a regular basis? --tayme

losta, what kind of company do you work for where you actually have to pay for your own business computers that the IT staff has to recommend to you?!? sad. you'd have my pity, but then the company you work for already has more of that for having you as an employee. "I just assumed" and you know what they say about that.... XP

"I thought Wae was a female. S/he never said; I just assumed. My apologies if I offended his/her tender sensibilities (or yours, for that matter). But even if Wae is a guy, why can't he have a boyfriend?" I apparently left of misogynist as well. My bad.

"losta, what kind of company do you work for where you actually have to pay for your own business computers that the IT staff has to recommend to you?" Wae, don't be a d1ck (or a tw@t, depending on your gender). You know exactly what I mean. I "bought" it out of my budget. The determination of the model came from the IT staff. I was convinced then (as now) that they chose the worst POS so they'd have something to fix. They had to justify their jobs (and their MCSE certificates) somehow.

"I apparently left of misogynist as well. My bad." Where were you when Wae referred to me as "Queen B1tch", or suggested that someone "sh1t in" my "Apple Jacks"? His comments have been so over the top, he's due a little comeuppance. You're as inconsistent as every, Jersey.

"You're as inconsistent as every, Jersey." :-) (I could not resist. I tried. I really did.)

"The determination of the model came from the IT staff" some IT staff, that they can't even build a computer themselves. a good IT department wouldn't need to worry about time spent on software problems, so they could free up more time working on hardware problems (or assembling computers). likewise, a good employee would know how to work well with the tools that he's given, so that he need not bother IT and get back to work. "They had to justify their jobs (and their MCSE certificates)" and how does an MSCE certificate have anything to do with OEM hardware failures? likewise, how does a bottom-rung marketeer have a say in rating the performance of his employers IT staff? "You're as inconsistent as every" as is your grammar checker. XP

@lotsa This is going to be a rather backhanded compliment, but I ignore Waethorn because he has little to say that's well thought out. I expect better out of you.

@waethorn - "some IT staff, that they can't even build a computer themselves. " Waethorn, most larege companies bulk order PCs from a distributor such as HP, Dell, or Gateway. PCs are treated as commodities, and rightfully so. That is why you will not see very many large corporations using Macs, except maybe in the marketing department, because most of those type feel "above" the rest of the organization and were educated on Macs and don't have the ability to learn a new OS. --tayme

@lotsa, you talk about people being insecure, but many times people that are involved in name calling often are themselves insecure. I don't know if you are or not, but I'm just saying that this seems to be a consistent pattern here. So you're just letting the insults fly. What does it matter what sexual preference someone here on this site has? Or what sex they are? Or what race? (That's bound to be next.) And of course putting down the entire IT department of your company that you know nothing about. Sometimes valid reasons exist for what you may consider to be a sh!t!y decision. You know, things like budgets.

"Waethorn, most larege companies bulk order PCs from a distributor such as HP, Dell, or Gateway. PCs are treated as commodities, and rightfully so." i just see it like this: if a company is a certain size, their IT department should be appropriately sized also. if an IT department is well trained, their preventative maintenance should be automated and they need only react to problems as they arise, which shouldn't be that common. major companies will be planning deployment on a schedule, and deployment will consist of prebuilt software images (which honestly doesn't take that long to create, or to test). so, for the most part, if an IT department is well trained and experienced, they should be sitting on their hands most of the work day. why not put them to good use and build some computers to save the company money? business deployments often have recurring system designs to streamline asset management, so it's not like it takes much to test software deployments in a network lab when all of your systems are the same. in my heyday, i built as many as 19 PC's from retail parts in a single 8-hour day, ready-to-ship. software imaging takes no time at all - the majority of the time was taken from just doing the actual assembly. even a very average system builder can build 12 PC's in a work day. at the end of the month, that's 240 systems. XP

In my experience at a helathcare company with over 1500 employees, our IT department is segmented into various practices - developers, server support, storage admin, desktop support, bio-tech, etc. Each group has responsibilities beyond what is obvious based on thier group's name. It is more fiscally responsible to bulk order the desktop PCs and keep a stock of replacement parts and systems, and to work through the vendors' RMA process for warranty issues. Thats the way it is in all large corps, to my knowledge. Your model may work in a small to mid-sized business, though... --tayme

"(I could not resist. I tried. I really did.)" Then you should know that [sic] should be lowercase, and in brackets. :-) (I could not resist. I tried. I really did.)

I was out of practice. My bad. ;-)

Adios, Gateway. Gateway was a nice marketing maker back in the early 1990's. But since Dell and HP/Compaq kept improving, they all left Gateway in the dust. But I have to admit, it was a nice way of getting a good starter PC. Its almost an end to an era there. Since Gateway will probably be a marketling line of PC's, its not like its dieing completely. Oh well, the only Gateway I ever used was my brother's system he bought back in 1997. But that system died in 2002 and he gutted the gateway components. Only the case was spared and was used for an updated Pentium 4 system. That was the first and last time our family used Gateway. Oh well, it will make a nice note in the Computer History books.