Not much smack talk from Michael Dell these days

But Fortune takes an opportunity to remind the world that it was 10 years ago when Michael Dell uttered what has now become one of the most famously stupid things ever uttered in the history of computing when he said that if he were running Apple he would shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders. See the Fortune titty-twister here. Nice chart with the story shows our stock versus Dell’s in the years since Michael made his big comment. One of the commenters touches on Dell’s current dilemma which is simply that Dell prospered not by innovating on design but on manufacturing techniques. They just found ways to take a little friction out of the system faster than HP, IBM and other PC hardware makers could do and that gave them a temporary advantage. Now the world has gone flat and the rise of China Inc. means anyone can make a PC as cheaply as Dell. So what advantage is left to them? I can’t think of one and I don’t think Michael can either. I’m also not sure Michael really wants to be CEO again. I mean, he’s back in there running the show again but it’s not exactly a Jobsian return to glory. You get the feeling he got dragged back against his wishes and he’d much rather be out jet-skiing on that big lake in Austin. Whereas when I returned I had a clear and noble goal — to get revenge on all the assholes who threw me out. Much different situation.