Michael S. Dell is fighting a battle over a company that many say is doomed.

Though his namesake company revolutionized the PC business, it missed the consumer shift to smartphones and tablets, and also missed the move of corporate computing to data centers and cloud-based networks. By trying to take the business private, Mr. Dell, in a sense, is trying to turn back the clock.

“Information technology moves faster than anything — even the worlds of fashion and retail don’t change as much,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor of management at Yale University who said he had a Dell investment. “How do you keep the revolution forever young?”

Mr. Dell, 48, declined to be interviewed for this article, saying his lawyers had advised him not to talk to the press before Thursday, when Dell shareholders are to vote on whether to accept Mr. Dell’s offer of $13.65 a share, or $24.4 billion, for the company.

But his friends and advisers say he is trying to protect his legacy.

“This guy has no desire to see his name on a company people think is irrelevant,” said Marius A. Haas, who runs Dell’s sales to big business.