First off, I want to apologize for the lack of posts over the last week or two. Work responsibilities has taken a great deal of my time, but I am absolutely going to try to make sure I am posting on a much more regular basis. So without further adieu, let’s get to some news.

Dell announced the release of two new programs, Studio Dell and IdeaStorm. Studio Dell is a video application that allows people to view videos about Dell and it’s computers, technology and tech tips. While Dell IdeaStorm is to be an honest, a blatant Digg knockoff where people can make suggestions to Dell on their company, computers, etc. Now even though there has been some rumblings in the blogosphere about Dell ripping off Digg, I personally think both of these applications are a great step in the right direction for Dell. For a very long time, Dell was known for their customer focus and service, but between Dell shipping all their customer support to India as well as numerous other problems, they have lost their luster and their reputation has suffered.

In regard to Dell’s IdeaStorm, what will truly determine it’s effectiveness and success is what Dell does with this feedback. Anyone can ask for suggestions, but if you do nothing with it, very quickly users will realize that they are just yelling at the moon and move on. It’s interesting because some of the most popular suggestions are issues that I don’t think Dell can do anything about. For instance, bar none, the most popular and numerous suggestions are about Dell’s customer service in India. There are many posts of people requesting that Dell bring it back to the US. While I would love to see that happen, I think that will happen right around the same time hell freezes over.

One of the other great suggestions is Dell shipping their computers without all the BS software on it. I am referring to AOL, EarthLink, etc. Wow, I would not of even thought of that, but that is a great idea. When I buy a new computer, the first thing I do is uninstall all of those offers. Though just like the overseas call centers, the software offers add revenue to Dell’s bottom line and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

What will be definitely interesting to see is if Dell does anything with these comments or is this yet another example of a company putting all their efforts trying to make themselves look better instead of actually being better.

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