I’ve updated my BIOS.
Even more critical vulnerabilities in the software that Dell puts on every machine.
And to think my new XPS arrives next week. The good news is that updates are being released today.
But I think I’m going to do a full wipe and clean install when my machine gets here. I don’t need this Dell SupportAssist software.
Dell is spinning off VMware.
Dell’s remaining unit (hardware) is now worth 1/2 of VMware (66B vs 33B). Dell also apparently has 32B in debt.
I was wondering why Dell’s PC side just seemed to … stop, in recent years. Like, barely any updates. The monitor side has just stopped. Dell is releasing new laptops but it feels like Gateway 2000 end-of-life. I think Michael Dell even made a cryptic comment in recent months about, i’m paraphrasing, something like “PC makers have to learn to provide customers with what they need”, that seems innocuous but seems to hint at bigger changes.
It doesn’t help that Dell Austin campus is now getting swamped by Tesla and Apple engineering positions. Probably not a huge amount of overlap, but there probably is at least some. I’m sure he feels like JC Penny’s, some old and busted brick and mortar, watching Amazon take over.
I thought a lot of that debt was amassed by simply taking Dell private, and then acquiring VMWare.
I couldn’t tell from the articles I read what Dell’s net position would be after spinning off its stake in VMWare. If Dell has $32B in debt, but makes $66B from VMWare, they’re in a great position to invest in themselves. Or to pay shareholders/owners a massive return, which may be more likely.
This is from FT.com
Dell has been weighed down by debt, after borrowing about $70bn to finance its dealmaking. As part of the spin-off, VMware is paying a special dividend to shareholders of about $12bn, helping Dell lighten a remaining net debt load that stood at $32bn at the end of July.
Wall Street has also been wary of the complex financial engineering used to hold together the heavily-indebted group. A year ago, after deducting the value of its VMware stake, Dell’s share price ascribed virtually no value to its remaining tech hardware business. Thanks partly to the plans for VMware, Dell’s shares have since risen more than 80 per cent, giving it an implied stock market value of nearly $33bn after the spin-off.
They should shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.