Microsoft and Dell see (PRODUCT) RED

Confirmed details are scant, but Microsoft's Nick White over at the official Windows Vista blog says that Windows and Dell with introduce (PRODUCT) RED "products" later this week. Rumor has it that Dell will ship an XPS One all-in-one, XPS M1330 and XPS 1530 laptops (already available in plain ol' red), and even a Dell 948 AIO printer in fancy RED editions. Besides the paint, the PCs will feature a special edition of Vista Ultimate with -- you guessed it -- a RED-themed desktop and sidebar gadgets. Perhaps best of all, Dell and Microsoft will donate $80 from the purchase of a RED XPS One, $50 from each RED laptop, and $5 from each printer directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa at no additional cost to you. However, let's wait for the official details before the back patting gets out of control.

[Via istartedsomething, thanks Long Z.]

[Carbonize @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:34AM]

So is this going to be the new charity thing? I mean when one charity does something the rest start to follow. I mean look at the ribbons (possibly was a UK only thing). One charity brought out ribbons to wear and soon they all did. Here in the UK (possibly other countries) you can buy pink products where a percentage of the money goes to breast cancer awareness. I know Red products already exist such as perfume so what's going to be next? Purple? Blue?

Buy a blue iPod and help fight depression?

No wait. Having an iPod would make me depressed (just kidding befoer all the fanboys start getting their knickers in a twist)

[Long Zheng @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:44AM]

RED is not a charity. http://www.joinred.com/manifesto/

[Carbonize @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:56AM]

See below for my reply.

[Leroy Vargas @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:00AM]

Blue for charity? So that means Blu-ray's next move would be to increase prices of all BD players and movies and have those extra charges donated to a blue cause? Like prostate cancer in USA, or anti-tobacco campaigns in Canada? (Well, that's what I could fetch from Wikipedia.)

[Tom @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:13PM]

@jessy, are you fucking kidding? Jungle bunnies? What they deserve?

Go jump off a bridge.

[Carbonize @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:46PM]

Why not America? Because Americans get what they deserve. A recession and George Bush in charge.




Actually nobody deserves George Bush as a leader.

[Carbonize @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:55AM]

"A percentage of each (PRODUCT)RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa."

Sounds like a charity to me.

I should of said to raise money and awareness for an issue as the pink products are not only to raise money but also raise awareness of the issue.

[Carbonize @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:55AM]

Crap I forgot to click reply :|

[IndiaTech @ Jan 23rd 2008 4:10AM]

XPS1330. Don't they already have one in RED? If my memory serves right, they pretty much messed it up the last time because of huge delays.

[Ellianth @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:11PM]

the delays were because of the pearl white color, not the red.

[michas_pi @ Jan 23rd 2008 4:48AM]

All the RED campaign does is make combating AIDS hip, trendy, and easy-to-digest for clueless hipsters.

[Long Zheng @ Jan 23rd 2008 5:09AM]

Better than not, no?

[Zorque @ Jan 23rd 2008 5:57AM]

You forgot the part where they give money to fight AIDS.

[michas_pi @ Jan 23rd 2008 7:05AM]

@Zorque:

Did I not mention that is combating AIDS?

All I am disappointed by is that a serious issue had to be made trendy to be noticed by the greater public. The battle against this terrible disease has been fought for decades but much of the public was like "Meh, it's in Africa and not here. Why worry?" At least it's getting people involved.

[michas_pi @ Jan 23rd 2008 7:06AM]

Whoops, I can't spell.

I meant to say "Did I not mentions that it is combating AIDS?"

[michas_pi @ Jan 23rd 2008 7:12AM]

Wow, another spelling mistake. This is embarrassing.

[Nick @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:59PM]

Its America.. of course it has to be made hip and trendy... otherwise the majority of simple americans dont care enough to act. We are too busy running the rat race here trying to keep our heads above water that we typically dont have the time or emotion left to deal with it or we are just too lazy. We see it on the news and say "those poor people" while we are eating dinner and then forget about it. Im not trying to preach im no better than anyone else, but if making it hip and trendy helps raise awareness, interest, and action then why not. The worst thing that could happen is that people stay the same and wont care. In this case the ends are definately worth the means.

I do also agree with some people when there is discussion about all the aid that we send overseas but dont even thinkg twice about providing to our fellow Americans.

[michas_pi @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:10PM]

@Nick:

I whole-heartedly concur with you, Nick. 'Tis a sad reality.

My original post was me lamenting about the social charity situation in the United States, not an attack on the RED campaign.

[Joe @ Jan 23rd 2008 5:39AM]

I read that if all the money spent on making and advertising these 'PRODUCT RED' things actually went to the AIDS campaign, it'd be much better. I hear that overall it's actually lost money.

[Thomas Bags @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:21AM]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2007/20070202.jpg

[Ellianth @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:15PM]

lol, Thanks.

Now the people in the study lounge, I'm sitting in, are staring at me.

[IndiaTech @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:30PM]

Hey... That guy is wearing a CompUSA shirt...

[Colin @ Jan 23rd 2008 6:25AM]

It's true, we just got a bunch of product red laptops at a "big box"

[bob e @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:04AM]

I'd like a Dell XPS One in red.

I noticed on the Dell web site they are giving $200 discounts on this model making the entry point $1299!

[Smotchberry @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:23AM]

It's been confirmed:
http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2008/01/22/42084.aspx

"Saw that John Markoff mentioned this in the Davos Diary earlier today. It's true, we're working with Microsoft and Product Red to offer the XPS One in a slick red color, along with other products. More red details coming later this week."

[Smotchberry @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:27AM]

Make that doubled confirmed:
Straight from the (RED) homepage: http://www.joinred.com/

"(RED) + DELL + WINDOWS

There's been some speculation online that Microsoft, Dell and (RED) are going to make an announcement later this week at Davos. Wouldn't it be incredible if through the simple act of choosing a PC, at no extra cost to you, you could put someone living with AIDS in Africa on antiretroviral (AVR) treatment for more than six months? Microsoft Windows, Dell and (RED) are proud to introduce (PRODUCT) RED products later this week. We look forward to sharing details in the coming days."

[Smotchberry @ Jan 23rd 2008 8:32AM]

On another note, I doubt Microsoft would do this during the coming week... I love the fact that this opens the possibility for further (RED) products coming from both companies down the line... Most notably a (RED) Xbox 360 with matching accessories and theme... and dare I suggest a Folding @ Home client onboard? I'd take that over the Halo 3 one anyday.

[George @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:32AM]

Does this mean we'd get a red screen of death as well?

[szamot @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:33AM]

RED is a research sham. Bono was on Ted not that long ago and the guy can't string a sentence if his life depended on it. I think they have collected about $100M for research so far $90M of which went to the advertising companies to promote the Brand. RED then seems like another great cessation of symptoms cause to me. IF this is such a great cause, and it is, why would the ad agencies not do this at a discounted rate or better yet pro bono like most volunteers do it.

It is a brand, and brands cost money, I will put mine some place more productive.

[Alex Padilla @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:52AM]

IMO, why wouldn't EVERYONE buy these products? If was a Windows guy with the available funds, I'd get over the fact that red sucks as a computer color and would buy a computer simply because of the donation. Or, if I wanted another color, I'd donate the money myself.

Who said you needed to buy a product to donate money to fight AIDS?

[masstercheif @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:21AM]

The idea is if you're going to buy the product anyway, why not include the donation?

[Alex Padilla @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:25AM]

yeah, that's pretty much what I'm saying. if you're in the market for a PC, why not buy a Product(RED) one?

We're on the same page here.

[masstercheif @ Jan 23rd 2008 4:14PM]

Right. I do however, disagree with you're statement about the color red for a computer...

[Alex Padilla @ Jan 23rd 2008 7:57PM]

Hmm, that's too bad. It depends on the shade of red. Crimson red could definitely be pulled off.

[Steve @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:13AM]

Wow.
Yeah MS and Dell are getting in on (Red). Is there an actual problem with that or does everyone just like to bitch. Not just bitch about some product that you don't like, but bitch about something that is helping raise awareness.
Thats great guys.

[Bruce @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:14AM]

I would just like a red Dell XPS One. If money goes to charity because of it, that is good. But I like the color red.

[Hector D @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:37AM]

Yep, Bono was in Austin this week. Stayed at the 4 seasons and spend a day at the Dell HQ in Round Rock. Not really a secret.

[Ashraf @ Jan 23rd 2008 4:02PM]

I would like to see a Product (RED) Zune 80.

[Boomer @ Feb 1st 2008 9:39AM]

This whole marketing scheme is ridiculous. If you want to configure the m1330 red to something decent (more than 1gb memory, slim lcd, discrete video card, better hard drive), you now you have to pay an incredibly huge premium over the other xps m1330's, and only a trifling amount of that premium goes to charity.

Basically you're paying for the red color (which you USED to be able to get on a regular m1330) and the special vista program (which I could care less about). Add on to that the features I mentioned above and it's now about 800 dollars more expensive than the plain m1330 in red used to be. Dell makes a huge profit and charity gets hardly anything. Dell really should be ashamed.

[Jeff P. @ Mar 9th 2008 11:36PM]

What a dweeb. Why don't you share with us just how much YOU gave to charity this year? The Product Red program is a business model as is stated in their own manifesto. Why should Dell be ashamed that they're giving quite a lot of money to charity? I'm about 5 minutes from hitting the button to buy a red 1530. The price rings up to about $80 more than the black one. Not much considering you're getting Vista Ultimate instead of Premium. If you were to add on Ultimate to the black model it's an extra $150. So then, maybe you should redo your math. But, then again, you're probably too busy working with your many charities.