Green Tech takes a new turn

I'm quite surprised by this blog entry by a Dell Vice President. It accuses Apple of not being truly green.

Several Dell folks were surprised and perplexed to see Apple's new "green" MacBook ad since its release last month and we've been watching the discussions in the blogosphere. After chatting with our environmental teams about the topic, we realized that instead of ignoring it, we should have a conversation about the real meaning of being green from the viewpoint of a Fortune 500 company.

[And then some specific points, before this conclusion:]

We wish Apple would be more bold in making a difference rather than making ads. If they do both, then fantastic, run all the ads you want. But don't forget what this is all about. And, remember, we're just getting started.

The content and comments are the usual huffing and puffing you see online. What interested me is that it is new for technology companies to criticize each other about how truly "green" they are. This just hasn't happened; tech companies have been content to collectively make green claims that few really believe in, and never to make them a competitive issue. It seems that has changed, and greenness is now fair game as a differentiator.

I wonder how that will play out...