I was already down on Dell, since both my Dell laptops are falling apart despite uncommonly gentle treatment – I have an Alphasmart Dana for my portability needs, so my Dells never go anywhere. But this indicates that Dell is likely to be a card-carrying member of the Totalitarian Control Group, about which you’ll read more on Monday.
As seen in the latest newsletter from SpyWareInfo, Dell sent an internal memo to its tech support minions which says in part: ‘NOTICE: Use of spyware removal software may conflict with user license agreements of other applications installed on your system. Please consult your user license agreements for further information. Dell does not endorse the use of spyware removal software and cannot provide support on these products.’
Dell isn’t putting the spyware on there, as far as we know, but it is actively resisting efforts to remove spyware. Why? Because Microsoft has some technology on the horizon which will make present-day spyware look downright friendly in comparison, and Dell wants to be one of the primary delivery vehicles.