We here at AtAT have occasionally been criticized for describing Michael Dell as mentally ill when we lack even a basic psychiatric education upon which to base that diagnosis; furthermore, the closest we've even gotten to the man is reading about his exploits in the press. Upon reflection, we've decided that, despite the scads of evidence that Mike has an obvious mania and obsession with Steve Jobs and Apple, that criticism is valid. While we still maintain that one needn't be a licensed psychiatrist to spot a raving lunatic, it's true that since we haven't really experienced the consequences of the man's behavior first-hand, we aren't necessarily the best people to judge Mike's sanity-- but maybe you'll take the word of one of his own employees, instead.

See, eagle-eyed faithful viewer CD spotted an interesting post over at Austin360.com by a self-confessed "design engineer at Dell" who agrees at least broadly with our diagnosis; he "seriously question[s] the sanity of the CEO", even if we differ in opinion on the exact nature of Mike's psychosis. This unnamed engineer was prompted to go public with his tales of Mike's madness by Dell's recent announcement of 4000 layoffs, which the engineer attributes to His Mikeness's "obsession" with ruling the industry and a Napoleonic "attempt to drive Compac [sic], Gateway, and H-P out of the business." The general gist is that Mike has leapt blindly into a bloody price war to crush his opponents at the cost of "destroying" his own company, all "to satisfy his own EGO" with no regard to the employees who made his company what it is today.

It's worth noting that the Dell engineer in question never mentions any obsession with Steve Jobs, instead hinting at a more generalized megalomania and delusions of grandeur. But when you think of a computer company founder whose delusions of grandeur and reckless disregard for the welfare of his own employees almost sent said company over the brink, doesn't a certain mercurial turtleneck-wearing fella spring to mind? Say, circa 1983, let's-pit-the-Mac-team-against-the-Apple-][-team? Clearly Mike is still deeply in obsessive Steveulation mode, and he's working his way back in time.

Still not convinced? Well, then maybe this one will change your mind... Remember way back in '97 when Mike publicly stated that if he were Steve, he'd have shut Apple down and given the money back to the stockholders? For a brief moment, it really looked like he was taking his own advice to heart. Faithful viewer Leland Jory sent us an interesting screenshot from his Excite home page this morning. Take a close look and you'll notice that DELL is down $24.83, or 100%; that's right, according to Excite, DELL was at 0. Looks like Mike was successful in shutting someone's company down...