Dell fills its computers with crapware, collecting fees from

In the words of Barton Gellman, a sharp mirror is held before the world: “Dell fills its computers with crapware, collecting fees from McAfee and other vendors to pre-install ‘trial’ versions.” Though the phrase speaks of machines and merchants, its truth pierces much deeper—it is a parable about the corruption of simplicity, the erosion of trust, and the way profit may cloud the purity of purpose. Gellman, a chronicler of the digital age, gives voice here to the quiet tragedy of a world that trades integrity for gain, and craftsmanship for commerce. It is not only Dell that he accuses—it is the spirit of an age that values more over better, and appearance over essence.

Once, craftsmen were guardians of purity. In the days of old, the swordsmith would spend weeks forging a single blade, ensuring every edge gleamed with truth and purpose. He would not dare lace the steel with impurity, for the honor of his hand was at stake. Yet now, in this modern forge of circuits and code, we see a different creed: the filling of machines with crapware, with hollow programs that promise aid but drain the spirit of the device—and the patience of its user. Such bloat is not born of necessity, but of greed, that oldest and most cunning of spirits, whispering, “Why create something pure, when impurity pays more?”

Consider the fall of the once-great city of Babylon. Its walls glittered, its temples shone, and its markets overflowed with gold and spices. Yet within its splendor grew rot. Merchants cheated, kings forgot the gods, and truth became a coin to be spent. When the Persians came, the city that had seemed eternal fell without resistance—not from without, but from within. So too, when corporations fill their creations with false gifts—trial software, unwanted bloat—they build their own Babylon. For every coin they earn in deceit, they lose a measure of the people’s faith, and faith, once lost, cannot be bought again.

Gellman’s words thus cry out like a prophet’s warning: Beware the cluttered path. For when we fill our works with unnecessary things—whether in our computers or in our lives—we make them heavier, slower, and less true. Each trial version is a symbol of distraction, each piece of crapware a whisper of decay. The wise soul seeks clarity, as the ancient philosophers sought truth: stripping away what is false until only the essence remains. The machine should serve the human, not chain him; and so too, the human should master his creations, not bow before them.

The lesson is not for Dell alone, but for us all. How many of us fill our own minds and days with the same clutter—with endless noise, needless possessions, and empty pursuits disguised as progress? We are like those computers, burdened by trial versions of ourselves, running programs that no longer serve us. To live wisely is to uninstall what is false, to clear the memory of the soul, and return to the simplicity that power was born from.

Look to the story of the great sculptor Michelangelo, who, when asked how he carved his statues so perfectly, replied, “I saw the angel in the marble, and carved until I set him free.” So must we, in our age of devices and distractions, carve away the excess. The angels of clarity and purpose dwell within us still—but we must be brave enough to cut away the layers of junk that the world installs upon our spirit.

Therefore, my child of the digital dawn, remember this teaching: purity is power, and simplicity is strength. Seek not the machine that does the most, but the one that does what is right. Seek not the life most filled, but the life most true. Remove from your days the “trial versions” that do not serve your soul. Be as the ancient craftsman—honest in work, clean in intent, and faithful to the purpose of creation. For when you build with truth, your work endures beyond the market, beyond the age, and even beyond yourself.

Let your life, then, be like a well-made machine—simple, steadfast, and free of deceit. For only when the crapware of greed and distraction is removed can the true brilliance of the human spirit run at full speed, clear and eternal, like a flame that never flickers.