Is DELL Listening?

Seems like only yesterday we were applauding DELL’s (DELL) decision to improve customer service by not pre-installing loads of software that was both intrusive and slowed system performance. Now we get this report:

Dell and Google plan to announce later on Thursday an agreement to preinstall Google software on new PCs, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

You can probably figure out what we think of this move for DELL. So we’ll skip rehashing that and point you to the Internet Outsider’s post on why it is bad for Google (GOOG - Annual Report) too.

In any event, the rumored Dell deal is a long-term bet that would likely cost shareholders and the company significant cash flow in the intermediate term.  And although Google and its shareholders love to jawbone about the importance of the long-term (and they’re right to–really), in the shorter term, sadly, the latter have a habit of voting with their feet.

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