There's some truth to this.

Nope, PETA also euthanizes animals. Info on it is fairly easy to google.

Does anyone really work for an organization that 1) has people who regularly don't get emails and 2) is encouraging people to use email less?

Seems like workflow problems, not email problems.

How does that make them not "legitimate". It makes no sense.

I still disagree. The folks who do the most reselling are gonna be the folks with the time and resources to get around this sort of thing, not the small operation folks.

That's what I was saying. I wasn't saying that he should have 17 different models, but rather that benchmarking just to end up with (corporate desktop) and (developer desktop) in the end was a waste of time.

Though in reality, most shops end up with a variety of different desktops in the end, even if they're all "Optiplex" line or what not. I don't think I've ever been in a large company where all the users had the exact same model desktop.

I don't think I'd go any lower than 2GB with a decent video card for Win7. There's affordable corporate desktops in the Optiplex line with good Gold-level Warranties available from Dell in that vein.

Is this really necessary for a Windows 7 rollout with corporate desktops? Most machines are already overpowered for the average user using Office and what not.

I'd think the cost per machine for good 3-4 year warranties would be more important. At least, it has been in my experience.

I could see doing something like this just for developer machines, but general roll-out? I dunno. Seems like you'd just compare pricing and go with the one that makes the most budget sense.

I'm not sure what the phrase "legitimate customer" means.

Nah, you can just give mules Visa gift cards and give them a little money out of your profit margin to buy them for you.

Sure, it makes it harder, but that only stops the small fries from doing it. Anyone with any eye for systematic eBay markups will get around it.

Apple's system isn't real-time like that for registrations (assuming you even got applecare, if not there's no reason to even know your address). This is plausible for purchases on different days, though. CC clearance is likely real-time through their merchant account, but actual charge processing is still, AFAIK, batched.

Eh, if you're coming in to buy an iPad the first week, you'll be back. Apple knows the early adopter personality pretty well at this point. They know you'll wait and you'll want it even more by then, too.

Apple's system registration system isn't realtime (though their receipt processing to email system is). If you buy them all through the same names on different cars on one day, chances are Apple won't even know until days later.

Yeah so you use mules with Visa gift cards. There's always ways around things like this.

You can buy AppleCare after the fact for up to a year, IIRC.

Besides, if "Apple's loyal customers" weren't willing to pay just about any price for the iPad, the eBay sellers wouldn't have a market.

But you fail to see the point. The phrase "without a traditional operating system" is very different than "without the traditional operating system."

I'm curious as to why they even bothered to say anything but "without Windows" when they clearly meant "without Windows".

You can embed many operating systems (including Windows). Does that make them then "non-traditional"?