http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/technology/29dell.html?src=me&ref=general
<After the math department at the University of Texas noticed some of its
Dell computers failing, Dell examined the machines. The company came up with
an unusual reason for the computers' demise: the school had overtaxed the
machines by making them perform difficult math calculations.
Dell, however, had actually sent the university, in Austin, desktop PCs
riddled with faulty electrical components that were leaking chemicals and
causing the malfunctions. Dell sold millions of these computers from 2003 to
2005 to major companies like Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo, institutions like the
Mayo Clinic and small businesses.
"The funny thing was that every one of them went bad at the same time," said
Greg Barry, the president of PointSolve, a technology services company near
Philadelphia that had bought dozens. "It's unheard-of, but Dell didn't seem
to recognize this as a problem at the time."
Documents recently unsealed in a three-year-old lawsuit against Dell show
that the company's employees were actually aware that the computers were
likely to break. Still, the employees tried to play down the problem to
customers and allowed customers to rely on trouble-prone machines, putting
their businesses at risk. Even the firm defending Dell in the lawsuit was
affected when Dell balked at fixing 1,000 suspect computers, according to
e-mail messages revealed in the dispute....>
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