Re: Compaq Laptop Virus Magnet from Best Buys
From: cquirke (MVP Win9x) (cquirkenews_at_nospam.mvps.org)
Date: 06/07/04
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Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 11:32:24 +0200
On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 00:06:24 GMT, Bossman <bossman@nospam.net> wrote:
>But what I really want to know is if anybody here has any
>information as to how major computer corporations can ship
>computers with outdated OS software like indicated below? Actually I
>am more interested in gaining a little insight into the workings of a
>computer assembly line and how things like this get overlooked.
The easiest way to set up PCs en masse was to simply copy the new
system's HD contents from a template. When this is done as a raw disk
image, it may allow optimal file content positioning too.
Even in the DOS days, there was a slight brittleness to this, in that
raw disk images have to match HD geometry and size. Switch from one
HD brand or model to another, even at similar capacity, and you may
have a problem.
This approach became a LOT more brittle with NT (each PC had to have a
unique security identifier or SID) and Win95 (Plug-n-Play dynamically
detects and resources hardware, may break image assumptions).
Today, large OEMs still use raw disk imaging, but with a wealth of
tools from MS and/or developed in-house to manage the problems and
conform with licensing requirements.
Small builders may still build by running various Setup.exe
interactively, as you would. This is the market MS caters for via DSP
(Delivery Service Partner) product. I'm a DSP, and modified
interactive installation is how I build PCs at the rate of anything
from none to 20 units a month.
Between these extremes are mechanisms to automate the interactive
installation process, e.g. response files that apply your options
choices so that you can do an unattended install and still have your
settings applied. This is the approach I use.
When you run the setup process, it can sanity-check things as it goes.
When you bypass that process via disk imaging, you open yourself up to
risks on an insane installation - i.e. one that is not rational for
the reality of the hardware it's installed on. This is why large OEMs
are often so inflexible when it comes to deviation from their
cast-in-stone model line, e.g...
"Can I have the Supremo X but with a 120G hard drive?"
' No, you'd have to go with out Supremo XL model for that '
Patches just don't fit in with a fully-automated build approach; they
are still extra work, but work more likely to be done in an
interactive build process.
There are two other considerations as to why PCs ship without fully up
to date patches.
Firstly, most volume builders won't include a patch until their own
in-house testing shows it to be OK. The more the brand "adds value"
through proprietary design, the more likely they will suffer problems
when applying new and untested patches. Mass-releasing dysfunctional
systems affected by such issues will swamp support capacity and create
opportunities for class-action litigation against them.
Secondly, you have to consider channel lag. A PC may be patched up to
date when it leaves the factory, but after sitting in a bulk/volume
reseller's warehouse a while, and then on the show room floor, new
issues may have been found, exploited and/or patched.
Resellers survive my marking up on what they source to sell. Some of
this margin is slurped off as profit, while the rest is plowed back as
value-add. Different reseller models add value in different ways - a
model that offers low prices, convenient central shopping mall
locations, ever-ready stock and personable sales staff is unlikely to
go overboard on actual value added to the PC itself, such as patching
it up just before it's delivered.
>--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
Tech Support: The guys who follow the
'Parade of New Products' with a shovel.
>--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
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