Dell is taking a page out of Sun Microsystems' old playbook. And no, it's not the one where they grow ponytails and put software under a GPL.

The No. 1 PC seller launched the first in a series of sit-down chats with the press in San Francisco on Tuesday as a way to encourage even more debate over Dell's consumer and enterprise strategy in the market.

The company said it would invite members of the press every 100 days or so for an informal chat about what customers are asking for and what Dell is doing to solve it. Dell said it plans to make similar stops on a quarterly basis in Boston and New York as well as the occasional European stop.

Today's press list included reporters from Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily and yours truly representing InformationWeek.

While the information is not earth shattering (today they announced two new Opteron-based servers they feel can outperform IBM and HP blades) the conversations are a chance for Dell to put its recent troubles behind it. (see CEO change, laptop battery recall, sales slumps, SEC investigation, and management shakeups)

When I covered Sun Microsystems on a regular basis, the company offered up executives at least once a month to talk about the news du jour but reporters could ask nearly any question they wanted. This is an old PR tactic to keep your client in the headlines even if the news is not as favorable as you'd like.

As one Dell rep told me, "Previously, we could only approach the press if we were all behind the same message. Now, we can talk more freely about our products and the strategy." Ah, yes... this spirit reminds me of the old days when Michael Dell talked openly about his distaste for HP and IBM.

Also like Sun, Dell's press chats exist to augment by its burgeoning Direct 2 Dell corporate blogs and marketing videos. There are 18 different categories and Michael says a few things, but he could learn some style points from Jonathan Schwartz.

Traffic seems to be doing well, according to the company. The blogs pull in about 30,000 page views in a day. Video traffic can sometimes reach 1,000 views per day. And according to Dell, they even take in user-generated content with the exception of any blue material or mention of the phrase "Dell Hell."

So, if you have any questions you'd like me to ask at the next Dell fireside chat, feel free to comment below.