Computers that run the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows didn’t attract enough attention from Wal-Mart customers, and the chain has stopped selling them in stores.
To test demand for systems with the open-source operating system, Wal-Mart stocked the $199 “Green gPC,” made by Everex of Taiwan, in about 600 stores starting late in October.
Walmart.com, the chain’s e-commerce site, had sold Linux-based computers before and will continue selling the gPC. This was the first time they appeared on retail shelves.
Different strokes for different demographics. Low price obviously didn’t overcome unfamiliarity at the walk-in level.
Didn’t Walmart sell out of these within the first two weeks? That’s not enough consumer demand for them?
Rednecks don’t know what a linux is.
#1. In brick & mortar retail that doesn’t mean anything. How much profit/cubic foot per week vs. something else that could occupy the same physical space.
Having sold out of the Linux PCs, WalMart said there was no demand ? Does not compute !!! (perhaps that really means that M$ came up with more $$$!!!)
I’d be willing to bet a large percentage of those Linux machines they sold came back when the buyers tried to load some Windows software on them and it didn’t work.
Wal-Mart retail is hardly where you need to be trying to sell Linux loaded PC.
And #2 I know Harvard educated people that could buy and sell you three times over who shop at Wal-Mart.
I have one of these machines. Put it in the corner with a large USB drive hanging on it. Use it as an “on-site” backup target for all (6) of my home and home-office machines. Works great. I use SyncBack SE in Windows and setup ftp on the linux machine.
LOL They’re able tp sell PC’s Cheaper than Microsoft Sells their OS for when the OS is free.
Hmmm… Do I smell a pay off maybe?
What they need to do is think about selling computers that use whatever operating system the user wants.
When did locking you in to a particular os version become a good thing to do?
#7 Wal-Mart has done exactly that. They have found that the overwhelming majority of their customers want a PC running Windows.
WM goes for volume not specialty.
#2 – Rednecks don’t know what a linux is.
But they’ll eat one if they hit it with the truck.
#7 – When did locking you in to a particular os version become a good thing to do?
When compatibility and interoperability became good things to have.
I live where there are six Wal-Marts within a 30 minute drive. How the hell could these computers have attracted attention when they were never put on store shelves? And why only 600 stores?
Probably. I been saying for some time now, that most people don’t know the difference between Windows, Mac OS and Linux. They buy based on brand name and price. Mention Linux to a non tech person and they look at you like you have 2 heads.
If you’re dumb enough to shop at wally world, then you probably don’t have the intellectual wherewithal to learn a new OS.
They weren’t on shelves in my area either. The difference in OS and compatibility may not have been explainable by the associates in the electronics department either.
#11 – Yep. The Wal-Mart shopper goes in and buys a computer and the latest PC game. Goes home and wraps it for their kid. The kid opens it cranks it up (watches a screen full of text bootup mumbo jumbo), inserts the game cd and nothing happens cuz he didn’t mount the fkn cd rom. Calls up tech support at Wally World and they tell him they don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. He finally gets his next door neighbor who is one of them queer homo geeks to help him. The homo geek says he needs to mount the cd rom drive for it to be read. He asks the geek if he should take it to the same taxidermist who does his other mounting or should he try to mount it himself. The geek gets frustrated and slams the door in billy-bobs face. Billy-bob takes the linux box back to the store for a refund. Billy then buys a bag of meth and has a wonderful day.
#12 “inserts the game cd and nothing happens cuz he didn’t mount the fkn cd rom.”
Which is why an OS that requires you to do that isn’t a consumer product.
#13 – Agreed.
#13 – Which is why an OS that requires you to do that isn’t a consumer product.
Exactly.
Most of the people who would buy one of these computers can’t spell “PC,” let alone know how to deal with a computer!
Linux will continue to be in the shadow until they make an OS that most people can use. And it’s funny how many people in IT never get this fact nor the fact that many people around the world just want to plug something in and not worry that they need this or that.. No OS is like a TV yet, but at least Leopard is more or less, buy it, plug it in, turn it on, it works. Windows might crash but most software works with it. For most normal users..which is about 95 percent of people who use PCs….Linux is useless.
But once again..people in IT blame the users and not the system. Yeah the users might be idiots. But if you build something based on your geek buddy Joe’s opinion…go figure Linux computers for 200 bucks are taken off th shelf. Sometimes people need to wake up.
#17 I wish Apple had gone the s/w route rather than the s/w + proprietary h/w route. They would have owned the market rather than being a bit player.
http://tinyurl.com/2o6ngg
Is this it??
Not sold online, NOT sold in stores??
And its ALL VIA..the video the audio, everything..
And a 1.7Ghz VIA CPU??
and what is GOS?? for an operating system??
Probably some Customized POS Linux Kernel..
Anyone want to BUY IT??
It BARELY has enough power to PLAY a DVD.
Im sorry, ITS NOT A SYSTEM I WOULD BUY.
Give me a >2.4Ghz Processor, and I MIGHT consider it. But, VIA Mobo has a DRIVER for the MOBO, that has to be installed BEFORE you can do anything. Which makes it a MAJOR hassle.
“gOS runs on Ubuntu + enlightment…”
Seem to me an Ubuntu with a facelift and Google all over it…
Question: What kind of OS and computers does Yahoo/Google/AOL use for their servers?
Does MS use Vista?
Does Apple use Mac’s?
Does anyone out there know?
I thought I heard that Google uses Linux and builds their own servers..
right?
They are smart if they do..
I love to watch Linux work smoothly… that’s what I see every time I use TiVo. So I downloaded the latest Ubuntu build and burned off the OS onto a CD.
I stuck the disk in the drive of a Dell and gave a 3 finger salute. After watching Ubuntu boot up and display on the screen, I proceeded with install. Unfortunately, Ubuntu’s partitioning routine gagged at a 120 GB drive. I Google’d the error message and discovered this was a common problem that would be fixed ‘real soon now’.
If you wonder why Windows owns 91% of the market, hide in the corner and watch while I stick an XP CD in the same computer. Within an hour or so, that 120GB drive will be partitioned, formatted, O/S installed and we’ll be downloading from the Internet.
Until Linux can do that, implying the user is lacking misses the real problem. Most people have real lives. A computer is a tool to accomplish a task. If the machine can’t do what they want without pain, people purchase what will. That’s why BillG’s bug farm may suck but it sells.
WM is about getting the most for the least amount, and the small production runs of gPC opened the doors for larger PC makers who get a substantial subsidy from MS and all the other craplet makers. A MS box from WM will take 5 minutes to start with all the craplets installed on it to lower the price.
#13 Linux has auto-mounted Cd-s for some time now, yes it was late to the game, and it still can not auto-load an MS virus using Wine or any other emulator. It has not perfected the spinning beachball not-quite-a-lock-up-or-crash as Apple has done, but it it is trying. And all this near perfection for the price of free. 🙂
#18 – They would have owned the market rather than being a bit player.
No they wouldn’t have. Apple was never going to grab that brass ring.
Jobs positioned Apple for education believing that if they learn on Apple they will want to use Apple when they grow up and go to work in 10 years.
Gates positioned MS in the business market, knowing that if they drop a massive investment into the IBM/MS world, they sure as aren’t going to scrap it all to re-invest in some liberal hippy dippy tree huggin Mac crap** in 10 years.
((**I know… Totally uncalled for 🙁 Sorry))
There’s so much Linux hate on this website and no good reason for it. You don’t have to “mount a CD” before you can use it, so please get your facts straight. Both of my parents are using Ubuntu and it runs way more smoothly than Windows ever did. No crashes, security risks, or ad-ware. A suite of apps and games that are worth a damn. A window environment that puts AeroGlass to shame. Even you late adopters should be able to realize that Ubuntu is now a viable alternative for casual use.
“Even you late adopters should be able to realize that Ubuntu is now a viable alternative for casual use.”
Then they should crank up the mktg machine…
#2 Rednecks don’t know what a linux is.
The hell I don’t! My first dual boot system was Windows 3.1/Slackware. The machine I’m typing this on is a linux laptop. I bought my first cable modem at Walmart. Where’s my 12 gauge pump?
#27 What should the marketing budget be on a free product?