Dell has been illustrating the value of blogging by posting stuff on its official blog, which is now called Direct2Dell (avoids being confused with a porn site).
On Monday, the blog said: "About 14 percent of the batteries provided to Dell customers between April 2004 and July 21, 2006, are affected. Dell is recalling approximately 4.1 million batteries during the period compared to 24.9 million batteries that we actually shipped during that same time."
Yesterday, it answered a question many are asking:
Some customers are wondering why some batteries Dell distributed during this time period are part of the recall and why other batteries are not. Dell uses multiple suppliers and multiple battery pack form factors so not every battery is affected. This recall is specific to battery packs produced with Sony cells. If you have a battery that is not included in the recall, you can feel confident it is ok.
Aside from all the finger-pointing, it's a good illustration of something lots of people have found out the hard way. Today's computer industry is built on the idea of infinitely interchangeable parts, and sometimes they aren't.
