Want a PC that lets you read e-mail attachments? At least with Dell, that can cost you an extra $149.
A reader relates this story about an acquaintance who had recently purchased a new Dell for around $1,600. "Her new computer had Windows XP, Home Edition, as loaded and configured by Dell," the reader writes. "Since her old computer was Win 9X, she was a bit unfamiliar with it. She soon found that she could not receive attachments. She called Dell and they charged her $149 to direct her to open Outlook Express, go to Tools-Options-Security and turn OFF the checked box that does not allow attachments to be opened."
"She had gone to the so-called 'help' menu option in Outlook Express on the new computer, and of course there was NOTHING under 'attachments' that mentioned this 'feature,'" the reader points out. "Imagine, they ship her a new computer with a key attribute turned OFF, and since this is not a 'hardware' issue, when she called in they charged her $149 for a year's worth of 'software help' to enable the feature. She was furious with Dell."
"Let us suppose that you bought a new car, and the heater and air conditioner did NOT work because they had a secret switch, maybe under the dashboard somewhere, that activated them," the reader used. There would be NOTHING in the car's operational manual that mentioned this secret switch. Then they agreed to tell you about the secret switch, for an additional 10% of the purchase price of the car. What a country!"
The reader entitled his message "Shame on Dell," but I think we can all agree that Microsoft deserves a considerable part of the blame here. How can a company with a monopoly it's leveraged for decades have absolutely no responsibility for supporting that product so the average customers can use it? What a country, indeed.
9:21:55 AM 
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