Tardy slips are going out to many laptop computers that were supposed to be delivered to South Dakota high schools by the first day of the new school year. Instead, some school districts are still waiting for those Gateway computers. And each day without the computers is setting teachers and students further back in their class work.
Baltic was one of fifteen South Dakota school districts chosen to receive the Gateway laptops to begin the school year. Baltic was supposed to receive 175 of the computers. But today, only fifty arrived [Perry Groten, "Baltic Receives First Batch of Laptops," KELOLand.com, 2008.09.03].
At the bottom, we find the state Department of Education still running some interference for a company that has abandoned South Dakota and good service:
The state education department says some of the computers that are to be delivered to South Dakota are still on the Gateway assembly line.
The department says another reason for the delay was the uncertainty over the laptop program fueled by funding debates during this year's legislative session [Groten, 2008.09.03].
Right. Blame the South Dakota Legislature for Gateway/MPC's inability to deliver its product on time to long-standing customers. Governor Rounds announced he had the funding for the laptops in May. Schools might still have been bound by their budget rules to place orders in July, after the new fiscal year started, just like DSU.
Of course, that hasn't stopped Fujitsu from delivering to DSU in three weeks. Superintendent Sittig in Baltic: call Fujitsu!
Funny, my education didn't depend on computers in high school. Kids can learn a great deal WITHOUT technology. It's called "thinking".
ReplyDeleteWhy is anyone surprised by this? MPC/Gateway PRO is a company that doesn't own it's own raw parts, in production items, or even the completed units. Rather, they have to borrow money from Wells Fargo on each purchase just to make their goods: See the agreement on SEC Online
ReplyDeleteAlso - they still owe a ton of money to Gateway (the big piece with Acer now)!
Additionally - all of their manufacturing facilities are now going to be part of the Flextronics empire.
Oh yeah - MPC also told us in their 2nd Quarter report that they were possibly on their way to bankruptcy: Read here.
And you all wonder why this company can't get you 125 laptops???
There is a company out of Fargo, ND that has helped out some Gateway/MPC customers in the past. They have a 7 Year Warranty on their desktops and servers. Great company to deal with. DakTech Computers is there name. www.daktech.com
ReplyDelete