Are there ways Dell has zigged where others in the industry have zagged?
We continue to focus on customers. Since customers order directly from us, we have a lot of information. Customers are telling us what they want and need, and we translate that into a product plan, a service plan. Some competitors are trying to transition to our direct system, but I think we have tried to use the information to make things more affordable, where others have tried to use it to make them more expensive. We’ve used the relationship with customers to keep them telling us where we should go next, where do we expand. That’s a perfect compass for us. Q: You recently announced you were moving headlong into printers. You have already expanded into servers and storage. Every company is looking to grow, but do you choose the products and the timing? A: We have every year or so added a major product category — work stations, storage, servers and switches. The first thing, again, is getting input from customers. Where are they buying, what do they want, what opportunities align wit
