Thursday, May 04, 2006
Industry Analysts and Charity...
I am somewhat disappointed in the lack of response from industry analysts to a request in a previous blog entry and figured I would ask a second time...
I previously asked if industry analysts could assist me in making contacts with several of their clients in hopes that they could donate brand new desktops or laptops for a non-profit charity I have been volunteering my time for after work. Brenda Michelson of Patricia Seybold was the only one that took the time to respond while others simply ignored it. I hope they feel slightly guilty.
Anyway, I looked into Brenda's suggestion and discovered several issues that I wasn't previously aware of. The main problem is that charities that collect old equipment from corporations are running into a big shortage problem. Nowadays, corporations tend to either simply give them to employees to avoid accounting headaches or don't give them away at all since they are required to comply with all the wonderful licensing agreements they are held to simply remove all software that is useful including the operating system.
Likewise, many corporations are taking this one step further by physically destroying the hard drives in order to ensure that no sensitive data falls into the wrong hands. In calculating the costs of taking an older machine and upgrading its memory, adding a new disk drive and acquiring all the software for it actually costs the same amount as purchasing a new machine.
With this thought in mind, I would really appreciate if any industry analysts out there would be willing to ping their contacts at Dell, HP, Gateway, Sony, Apple, Lenovo, Sun or any other manufacturer they provide advisory services to and see if they are willing to donate say ten or twenty machines for a worthy tax deductible cause. The difference a large PC manufacturer can make in the life of a child is priceless...
| | View blog reactionsI previously asked if industry analysts could assist me in making contacts with several of their clients in hopes that they could donate brand new desktops or laptops for a non-profit charity I have been volunteering my time for after work. Brenda Michelson of Patricia Seybold was the only one that took the time to respond while others simply ignored it. I hope they feel slightly guilty.
Anyway, I looked into Brenda's suggestion and discovered several issues that I wasn't previously aware of. The main problem is that charities that collect old equipment from corporations are running into a big shortage problem. Nowadays, corporations tend to either simply give them to employees to avoid accounting headaches or don't give them away at all since they are required to comply with all the wonderful licensing agreements they are held to simply remove all software that is useful including the operating system.
Likewise, many corporations are taking this one step further by physically destroying the hard drives in order to ensure that no sensitive data falls into the wrong hands. In calculating the costs of taking an older machine and upgrading its memory, adding a new disk drive and acquiring all the software for it actually costs the same amount as purchasing a new machine.
With this thought in mind, I would really appreciate if any industry analysts out there would be willing to ping their contacts at Dell, HP, Gateway, Sony, Apple, Lenovo, Sun or any other manufacturer they provide advisory services to and see if they are willing to donate say ten or twenty machines for a worthy tax deductible cause. The difference a large PC manufacturer can make in the life of a child is priceless...
