Just like it did back in 2013, in fact. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2015/03/24/dell-denies-back-door/1
We buy dells at work, soon as they are through the door I re-image them from a pxe server. Some of the stuff oem's are shipping on their machines is crazy.
Is it just me that thinks there's a link between falling OEM sales of desktops and the rubbish that comes pre-installed on them?
Well I don't think it has much if anything to do with sales. From my experience it is that people are happier with their 5+ year old machines than they ever used to be which is understandable given the power of hardware these days compared to minimal requirements outside of gaming. Factor that in with sales of Laptops (you did say Desktops) and then also the massive boom of people doing more and more with their smartphones and actually using computers far less than they used to.
So basically, you must think along the lines of anything that has a front or rear facing camera has the ability to be used to WATCH YOU! That includes TV and monitors. Wait until The Internet of Things really kicks off if you want to really ,really get spooked. Which basically means virtually every single piece of electronic equipment in your home will be able to gather intel, ( thats is imaging, aural and metadata) on your families habits, lifestyle, health issues, private conversations and intimacy. For years now it has been known that a USB connected webcam as long as physically connected is never actually off. Recently it was revealed that some Samsung televisions were collecting live video information from its owners living rooms Etc... This is just in its infancy, it's a brave new world.
@SchizoFrog, Well i didn't say it's the only cause, it just seems what with the bean counters only counting the sales of the main OEM's that install all this rubbish, and that this rubbish probably doesn't make them a very attractive option.
I have used Dells in my work places for the last 7 years, and I agree the first thing that happens when they walk through the door is that they are reimaged. I dont know if anyone else went through the hell of Dell control point software and LAN, WAN and WWAN devices on the E4200, E4300 and E4310 when they came out.
That's fair enough but I still don't believe it has an impact. Business customers (as mentioned by some here in the comments) tend to re-image as soon as new hardware comes through the door, not just as a method of getting rid of the rubbish that is pre-installed but also as they nearly always have their own software to install for day to day use and so it makes sense and it kills 2 birds... As for general public customers, people will always complain about the pre-installed software but most of them don't even stop them running on system start up and are quite willing to let 5-10 programs start and then close everything themselves, while not even realising that many of the programs continue to run in the system tray. I have also never ever heard a customer say that they will buy this laptop over that one due to the pre-installed software that is, or isn't installed.
there is another issue with some dell laptops/desktops is computer trace is sometimes on when you think its off reimaging will Not help as this is at BIOS or UEFI level if its been set to on as its permanent once its been set to on or somehow it got enabled (some BIOS have computer trace but the options in the bios are hidden) (even EE mobile phones have it burnt into there new phones so dont think that the phone is yours if you stop the payments)