A lesson in Excellence
Written 25 May 2004
A word of thanks to the greatest of computer manufacturers: Gateway
There are many reasons for gratitude toward Gateway. In this paper, I shall enumerate but a few.
When no one cared, you did
In the 1980's, after their U.S.A. weekly show was canceled, many Smurfs were left unemployed. For years little, or no, hope existed for the little blue people, until Gateway noticed their plight. They noticed and immediat- ly arranged to created thousands of jobs nationwide, and eventually world- wide. By creating drive bays so cramped normal humans are unable to work with the cables and jumpers, Gateway created a sharp demand among I.T departments. The diminutive blue folk easily sqeeze into tight confines, replacing cables and checking connections. Papa Smurf was observed to shed a tear as demand for his peoples skills sky rocketed. "Gateway is an absolutely Smurfy company," he said.
Fighting Global Warming
According to some scientists and reports, Earth's temperature is steadily increasing. If true, this eventually is disasterous for life on this planet. While many governments, companies and people view the theory with skepticism, or simply ignore it, Gateway reveals itself to be on the leading edge. How? By ensuring purchasers of their computers are unable to fill all expansion slots. Computers already produce vast amounts of heat, which in turn requires tremendous resources to cool. A less loaded computer, means less heat. By carefully positioning various items such as Heat Sinks, vents and power supplies, Gateway engineers block 2 or more PCI slots in many of their systems. In turn, this renders the slots unusable. An unused slot is incap- able of producing heat, thus diminishing the amount of heat produced by any Gateway computer.
Teaching Conservation
Some people confuse conservation with preservation. Conservation means to manage your limited resources wisely, ensuring benefits now and in the future. Preservation means not using your resources, guarding them for some nebulous future purpose. Gateway understands the difference and shows it in their products. For example, because of the surge in computers required by the world market, a great strain is placed on suppliers of components and raw materials used in computer construction. To lighten that load, Gateway uses only what is necessary, no more, no less, in making their computers. Open a Gateway computer and observe the data cables con- necting the drives to the motherboard. Some manufactures waste copper, plastic and dye by providing cables that are 18 inches or longer. Not Gateway. Careful design and thought goes into the layout of their computers. Each cable is the minimum length needed to reach from the motherboard to the drive. If necessary, so ecologically minded are the Gateway designers, they produce custom layouts so advanced that the cables can be a mere 3 inches!
Do the simplest thing that works
Computers are complex machines. Just ask anyone. Gateway knows this as it produces many computers per year. Gateway also knows that adding complexity to complexity results in confsion and many calls the service center. Doing the simplest thing that works, ensures no complexity is added. In this Gateway shines, how? Let us consider just one example, computer servers with RAID Level 1. Other computer manufactures will provide a system with a minimum of two hard drives, each on its own dedicated data cable. The user, upon opening the case, is confounded by the cables running hither and thither. Not Gateway, again they show their superiority. They deliver a system with two drives, both on the same cable. How simple! How orderly!
You keep users from harming themself or their computer
It is well known that unknowledgable users are responsible for the bulk of computer service calls. Many of these calls derive from such users attempting to upgrade the hardware. The most common upgrade is RAM. Installing RAM improperly can render the chip, or even the system inoperable. To forestall this, the Industry enacted such measures as keyed RAM Modules; they are only able to be installed one way. Showing how they shine above the rest, Gateway takes this a step further. In many of their systems, they make it difficult to access the RAM slots. One system reportedly, needed totally disassembled to access the slots! By taking such steps, looking out for the unskilled user, Gateway thus ensures only qualified technicians perform hardware upgrades. THank you Gateway for thinking about the little guy.
Leading the rest, you become the best
In the early to mid 1990's, Packard Bell was the computer manufacturer everyone wanted to beat. The undisputed champions of quality, performance and overall value-per-dollar-spent, Packard Bell left all others far behind. However, this drew attention and NEC purchased Packard Bell. In a move that left the entire industry shocked, soon after the purchase, NEC annouced they were pulling Packard Bell from the North America market to focus on the Far East and Pacific regions. This left a noticible void in the North American market. Into it step Gateway. Beating all other manufactures, they have shown time and again to be worthy of donning the mantles left by Packard Bell. Along with the points mentioned above, the purchase of "A" Line manufacture E-Machines shows they do not sit upon their laurels. Continually they outdo themselves to remain the best of the best.
With the above said I want to exhort Gateway, continue in the path you chose. Thank you for such fine quality systems.