Thinking Outside the Box

When I started Dell twelve years ago they kept hammering one idea into our heads.

Think outside the box.

At the time Dell management was convinced that thinking beyond the accepted limits would make us better support techs. It was a noble thought which they abandoned a few years later as they tried, with limited success...very limited success...to build scripted tools that would allow less-than-fluent-in-English foreigners to answer US tech support calls.

But, my purpose today is not to dwell on Dell's dismal failures in the field of customer support. My purpose is to bring up the dismal failure of the computer industry to think beyond the box.

What box?

This one!



I am just using Dell as an example, everyone who makes computer cases is guilty of the same crime. The most significant appearance change in computers is that the cases that house them have gone from boring beige to boring black and finally to a few colors.

But it is still just a box.

We have entered the 21st Century and yet most computers are less visually exciting than a model T. Okay, there a few that have taken baby steps away from the box.

Acer



Alienware



And even Dell (kudos where kudos are due).



The problem is that these are still just boxes, admittedly fancy boxes, but just boxes. There is no reason why the computer has to be a box. The parts don't have to be arranged in any specific shape. Yes, the motherboard is a certain size, and the CD or DVD drive cannot change size. You have to have a power supply and fans are going to be important, but it does not need to be a square edged box.

I have been looking for a new computer case lately, and all I find is boxes. The computer industry has less creativity than the average bricklayer. They seem to think that slapping a few geegaws on the outside creates style. There are very few variations on the layout of an automobile, but we are bombarded with an abundance of styles of cars, trucks and vans. I wish that as much thought were put into the computer case.

At this time, there is only one computer case that I consider to be truly stylish...



It may still be a box, but at least this is a Stutz Bearcat to the rest of the Model Ts on the market. I hope that the future will see someone put some thought into computer cases and see that it takes more than add-ons and paint to make a beautiful computer case.

And if you don't know what a Stutz Bearcat is.....