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Walmart Ships PCs with Lindows OS
Tonetheman writes "Walmart is now shipping low cost PC's with Lindows pre-installed. And yes I know there was a review earlier on Slashdot about installing Linux on one of these bad boys. This is different and much more exciting. To think of the legions of rednecks who could now possibly be running Lindows instead of Windows..." There's a Newsforge story too. Hopefully Lindows makes a good impression.
I though that it was still in beta, aren't they afraid of claims for 'not functioning like windows, despite the misleading name'?
I'm of the opinion that people (this includes everyone) should be made aware of the fact that there are different OSs, of which only a few can run the software written for another OS. With this rudimentary knowledge, the world would become a much more pleasant place to live in if you happen to work at a helldesk. Note: the typo was intentional.
Site & blog: http://www.mayaposch.com
A company as large as Walmart might be just big enough and have enough bargain-basement customers to make this fly. And at $299 for the Duron 850mhz model, who can't afford one of these.
One problem I can see is that the hardware in these systems might(and probably is) of sub-par level. Instability issues caused by poor hardware quality may undermine the "frugal" consumer's viewpoint of the *nix OS enviroment. Not to mention that they'll have a hard time finding tech support locally considering that most tech shops are generally geared towards MS products and not Linux.
Duris MUD - The best pkill MUD. Ever.
AFAIK, Lindows is based on wine. Wal-Mart customers will tend to buy a lot of games for their computer. Sounds to me like manufactures will soon find it a requirement to test their games with Lindows, and thus they will be wine compatable too.
Not as good as native linux games, but a close second. If nothing else this could drive some real compitition to microsoft!
If only it works... I'm not holding my breath yet.
... the customer takes the computer at home, grabs a copy of windows 2000 or xp from a friends, removes that crap lindows and installs windows on it ...
so, first of all, nice stereotype. i guess all the fat, dateless, acne-scarred men on this site need something to chuckle about between visiting sites analyzing spock's deepest thoughts and pron.
and second of all, why would you be so excited about these legions of rednecks using lindows? does nobody here see that computers today are the same as automobiles in the 50s and 60s -- that, back then, it was an elite group of youngsters that really got into the maintenance of and differences between various machines. now mechanics are a dime a dozen, and near the bottom rung of the social ladder, in most places. indeed, they are rednecks. santayana would know what warning to give.
go get it
The only reason Wal-Mart is doing this is because they can save a few buck over Windows boxes.
Wal-Mart IS the Evil Empire and are destroying America one Super Center at a time.
The Wal-Mart company in the largest company in the world.
5 of the 10 richest people are Waltons.
They force the suppliers they have to produce products off shore to make them cheaper.
Don't shop at Wal-Mart of Sam's Club.
To me, it didn't seem to be much more than KDE2 default with a pretty picture for the background. This is a problem. KDE default is NOT intuitive to Windows users.
I am currently helping a co-worker who is curious about Linux learn her way around on one of the spare machines here. Her first question (w/ RH 7.3 default) was that even after 10 minutes of poking at stuff she could not find the taskbar buried in with all that other stuff. That was just the beginning.
If you are going to cater to the Windows crowd you have to _really_ cater to them, not just change the icon theme.
You know, I've a couple of posts around /. lately talking about how great the /. community is..caring and helpful, but in the few posts I see here so far, all I see it snobbery. Just because someone lives near a Wal-Mart or goes to a Wal-Mart to buy stuff (even if it's a computer), doesn't make that person a hick or a red-neck.
Maybe you people should be glad that Wal-Mart is embracing something other than Windows, instead of being so damn smug. Get off your high horse and join the movement, or shut the f*** up.
That's all I have to say about that.
*** Stop trying to be cool. ***
I think some of you are expressing concern because you don't want the mass public using anything but Windows. When everyone starts moving in on your elite OS, it no longer is the cool thing to use, so you must find something else to move on to....
There's no "I" in Linux.. err..
"To think of the legions of rednecks who could now possibly be running Lindows instead of Windows..."
It sounds funny, but just wait till they buy and try to install something made for Windows. Much to their surprise, it won't work, and they'll be calling up Wal-Mart asking them what kind of shinanigans they were trying to pull.
Now I haven't seen the packaging for these Lindows PCs, but I'd be willing to bet that some people COULD be confused into believing they're in fact buying a Windows PC. When they do discover their error, they'll think they were suckered into buying some kind of like a cheap knock-off (don't have the exact appropriate Simpsons quote).
If that happens, it's probably not the kind of PR that Lindows is looking for. Both Lindows and Wal-Mart have to be very careful to make sure the differences between Windows and Lindows are clearly explained.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Selling people Linux machines with Wine isn't a win for Linux. You still have to shell out probably more cash for Office than for the machines themselves, and it's probably not going to work very well, turning even more people away from "things that are different".
Sure this might be a loss for Microsoft, but it's certainly not a win for Linux.
Looks like windows, kinda feels like windows, stable, UNIX based, runs most of the big important Windows programs...
We're talking Mac's with OS X, right?
The angel in the oatmeal.
After spending months and years working for free to create a windows environment in Linux... some scumbags are using your donated time and energy to hoodwink ignorant customers into buying cheap pcs.
It's kind of sad, really.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
about the uptake of Linux to the desktop you wouldn't think there would be so much negativity about this. Walmart is a huge retailer who is willing to preinstall a version of Linux that is actually usable to most people and still you complain. I hope this gets modded up because this negativity is quite disturbing. What a great way to get application/game devs to port their stuff. Do you people know how many people actually shop at Walmart. And suffice to say they are not all rednecks.
These computers do not ship with Microsoft Windows. They ship with an exciting new UNIX based Operating System (OS) named Lindows. This exciting new OS delivers the stability of UNIX with the ease of Windows and the ability to run most Microsoft programs. These computer systems are a perfect low cost alternative to computers preloaded with Microsoft Windows.
Taken from the site
I like the low cost alternative line. Looks to to me like they are selling barebones boxes and including lindows to stop MS from starting some kind of legal war. Saying that Wal-Mart is encouraging warez.
Str8Dog
using System.Darkside; public
As far as I can tell this new promotion is like the OS-less PC promotion. It is being offered online only. You can not go into a Wal*Mart store and buy and OS-less PC. I doubt you will be able to go into a Wal*Mart store and buy a Lindows PC.
So, who has access to the Wal*Mart website? Those people who already have a computer. Who goes to Wal*Mart.com to buy a PC? Outside of those people that want an OS-less PC to install Linux on, probably not a large number of people.
This isn't going to convert unsuspecting people to Linux users (a dangerous thing to wish for at any rate). It isn't going to spread Linux to the mass market. It isn't going to steal any appreciable market share away from Microsoft.
It's noteworthy for the fact that a major retailer has thumbed their nose at Microsoft. But, that same major retailer is only thumbing their nose while behind a box in a locked room with the shades drawn so that the world can not really see that they are doing it.
If other major computer resellers follow suit (which I doubt they will), then this will become interesting. Now, though, it's nothing more than YALPOS (Yet Another Linux Post On Slashdot)
If it was darn easy to plug into a phone, subscribe to an ISP and get browsing and email, it may have a chance, then the genuinely interested users can start up the learning curve and enjoy a crash & virus free existance.
Personally, I've avoided helping out home users with all their GD windows problems for years, as I'm not about to waste my time working free tech support for multi-billionaires, but if I meet someone with one of these it'd be fun to talk shop with them.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
what kills me about the Linux crowd, please excuse the generalization, is that there is absolute belief in the superiority of the platform, and absolute obsession with the lack of respect it gets in the mainstream.
But what makes this observation interesting is that their is also an undercurrent of clubiness (sic?) about the whole thing. The idea that the masses could actually start using Linux is troubling to this group, as it would dilute the cachet of the club. This is bizarre to say the least, as mainstream adoption of Linux would only serve to achieve the first point, respect, and of course the other obsession, deflation of microsoft.
I don't take particular offense to the redneck comments, but you would really have to be an idiot to think that only rednecks shop at Walmart. I mean, christ, they have over $200b in sales. I guess the only thing that would make you a bigger idiot is to not understand how many personal computers are sold in the US annually, and how many of them go through channels like walmart.
I live near a Wal-Mart... and I'm a Lindows Insider. I guess all Lindows Insiders are rednecks too?
Hey, wait, does that mean that since the Lindows staff are all inherently Insiders, that they are all rednecks as well?
Whoa, hold on! They are contributing to the general software cause that we all love to talk about here on Slashdot. Does that mean all contributors to the well-being of Linux and alternative OSes, Slashdot readers, and everyone else that uses a computer is a redneck?
I think I've made my point somewhere herein.
me
Green's Law of Debate: Anything is possible if you don't know what you're talking about.
To think of the legions of rednecks who could now possibly be running Lindows instead of Windows
Could you be more condescending?
~jeff
That's all? What so rednecks can't laugh at themselves? rednecks are above the fine and long American tradition of giving others a hard time for amusment? I don't think so.
Last I saw rednecks were just as willing to spread the wealth and make fun of just about anyone else you can think of so that makes them fair game too.
Just to put a nice closing spin on things I'm liable to come to your desk to provide your tech support with a pinch of Copenhagen under my lip.
I work in Houston Texas. We could very easily have the highest percentage of rednecks in the entire United States. We drive trucks, we wear cowboy boots, and a large number of us like at least a few songs by David Allen Coe. A lot of those same people also know their way around distro or two so all is not always as it seems.
I don't take the jokes too seriously and niether should anyone else.
I think the most interesting part of this is that now other stores selling computers will have to find ways of competing with these insanely low priced computers, and I think the first thing they'll do is throw out Windows. Although alot of people will disagree, I think ESR had a good point when he said that microsoft would be doomed when the cost of PC hardware dropped below that of Windows, and we're almost at that point already.
Within six months WalMart will join Dell in backing off from Linux on the desktop once they see that the boxes just won't sell to their customer set without Windows preinstalled.
The result of all this will be that the vast majority of the business market will only become further entrenched in their opinion that Linux makes a very nice low and mid-level server OS, but has too many problems to use on the desktop.
Except that poor "culturally deprived" whites aren't the oppressors. They're just as much disenfranchised "victims" as poor "culturally different" [sic] blacks.
/individual/ without making one a racist.
Frankly, the usage of "redneck" in this case is classically racist! The author has no knowledge whatsoever of the individuals purchasing these computers, and is making broad generalizations as to what types of people shop at Walmart. (I suppose the "niggers" shop at K-Mart, eh?)
It would be more appropriate and acceptable to yell "Fucking goddamned nigger!" at a baggy-pants black youth crossing on a green light. Or if it was a dumpy white lady, "You fucking fat-ass bitch!" Or an Asian, "Me rikey you go faster, cross walk long time!!"
Cultural hot-words can be used to express displeasure with an
However, the article summary's use of "redneck" lambasts the very market most Linux zealots pretend to want to conquer -- the common working man. And it appears it was done merely as a way to demean other people via the use of a loophole in politically correct dogma.
heehheeh lomaolf!!!!
#19845
I find it interesting that /.ers see Microsoft as an evil corporation (for obvious reasons) and Wal-Mart as a champion of the people because they are selling Lindows boxes, even though Wal-Mart shamelessly exploits Maquiladora sweatshop labor, lies about it's products being made in the USA, and forces artists to censor their music, among other things.
At least the people Microsoft empoly get paid well.
Lindows is enough different from Windows that I think the people that I see buying computers at walmart will end up confused and displeased when thier favorite games won't play. (does lindows support all the fancy DirectX graphics stuff yet?)
Still I'm interested enough at this point to download the iso and check out the distribution.
"You can now flame me, I am full of love,"
What exactly is the American fascination with WalMart? You people have a real hard-on for it, and I've never been able to figure out why. WalMart came to Canada a few years ago -- and it looks prety much like any other cheap retailer of crappy consumer goods and cheap made-in-Singapore "fashions".
Can anyone explain this to me?
Hey, I'm not going all "PC" on y'all (pun intended), but instead of "redneck", think "your grandmother and/or your mother". I know Walmart is a popular hangout for the bumbles of the world, but they have a really long reach in terms of mass-market retail access. They are, for all intents, the Sears Roebuck of this generation. Everyone goes to Walmart at some point. If you want our favorite GPL operating system going to the masses, this is the way to make it happen.
Now, if Target would just do the same thing with a slightly upscale ($50 increase), neatly-designed case in the fashion of most of their homegrown goods, we'd really be in business.
Amateurs discuss tactics. Professionals discuss logistics.
I doubt the target audience for these machines is shelling out $$$ for Office. I'm sure they'd love to have a cheap computer that will run a "borrowed" copy, though.
You guys are as fickle as a dumb blond. Yesterday it was "blast Bioware they arent supporting Linux out of the box" and now its "Blast Wal-mart FOR trying to support a Linux distro"! Which is it guys? I mean, COME OFF IT! You dont REALLY want Linux to be mainstream, do you? No, I didnt think so. If you did, you'd be WILLING to help "J Bubba Jr." to not only install his mouse, but actually RUN a program or two on his new l33t machine! Instead, 99% of you are pissy. Why?? A MAJOR RETAILER (like it or not, they ARE) is selling a LINUX COMPUTER. CHEAP TOO! It doesnt make sense. Or is it just because you're starting to realize that if EVERYONE switches to linux, you'll no longer be l33t hax0rs??
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
Help fight continental drift.
I think that Wal-Mart just wanted a throwaway OS to mount on these machines. I predict that 80 percent of them will be running a pirated copy of Win within 48 hours of purchase.
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast.
What I'm curious about is the tech support issue. It seems to me that by offering a Lindows pre-installed PC, it's now in Wal*Mart's interest to see Lindows be as stable as possible and as compatable with Windows applications as possible.
Does anyone suppose they plan to help out Lindows development if, say, the next version of some popular Windows software doesn't work with Lindows? Now that would really impress me. (And then I'd think about buying one of these boxes.)
You're assuming that the EULA is actually valid and that the clauses contained with it are actually legal in the first place. Neither are by no means certain, and if they were enforced there would be a pretty good reason to go after Microsoft for violating the Sherman Act on yet another count.
My friend, it's amazing how completely off target you are on your response. You addressed a statement that was never made. The post to which you responded never said that walmart didn't use a lot of technology, it said walmart was not a company who made all it's money selling PC's. You however decided to jump the gun and write a wonderful rant about walmarts internal IT structure, however that was nowhere near the discussion. The posters point was that walmart could afford to go out on a limb like this because they make a lot of money selling OTHER products.
This sig intentionally left blank.
So how is this different from any other market out there? In every industry there are components that will not work as you want them to, or will only work in the exact way the mfg describes. But most of the time, you get these components at a MUCH LOWER PRICE, just like LindowsOS.
When you buy a $200 car, I'm sure not everything is going to work properly, but you understand that, because it was cheap. Same goes for computers. "Hey, this one is only $299 while these others are $800!"
The target audience for these systems is the average joe who wants to surf the 'Net, get email, write the odd letter on a word processor, and maybe play a game or two. LindowsOS is perfect for that and the user doesn't have to pay the Microsoft tax.
The only problem I have with this is how it's marketed. They'd better be damn clear that it's NOT Windows and that not every Win32 program will run perfectly under it. From what I see, they do advertise this and I hope they continue to.
If you go to their website, the only link to download the OS asks you to pay $99. Since most of their stuff should be based on Linux, I would expect to see sources somewhere on the Net. Ok so they only have to give source to their customers, but if they did someone should have already posted it. Where is RMS when we need him? :-)
By the way, did anyone else think about Redhat install? It mentions that the first NLS translation of the setup program was for Redneck. Wonder if that project was preserved for posterity.
for those of you who dont know walmart is a company that spawned from arkansas. the same place who brought you bill clinton. while i'm sure many of you are enjoying yourselves making fun of the ``rednecks'', consider the following:
many of you shop there.
currently the waltons (son's and daughters of sam so to speak) have more money than gates and ellison combined.
all this was made by a redneck without a college education. hell i dont even think he had a highschool education.
it's nice to see that by getting educated and growing up in a civilized society you all (y'all if you like) have become tolerant understanding people forgoing prejudice towards your fellow human beings.
-- john
One of the fundamental principles of software
develpment is that you can't find all the
sticky problems until you get real users
using the thing.
Consider Mozilla: progress was slow until
the 0.9.x milestones, then all of a sudden
it was good enough that a lot of users who
tried it liked it enough to start using it
as their regular browser, and whammo, the
bugs started dropping like flies, and it
shaped up incredibly in just a few weeks.
Same thing with Linux. Technical excellence
aside, it was nowhere near ready for the
typical end user until quite recently, but
as the user base spreads beyond developers
to end users, amazing strides are made in
its _usability_ for end users. There's a
breaking point somewhere, where enough
users adopt a piece of software that the
bugs show up and can be fixed. You don't
reach that point without early adopters.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Well, most rednecks don't have an IT dept. to convince..
Well that's because you searched for Lindows. Most regular shoppers will not do that. If you follow the link in the original story, you do get an explanation. Same if you click on the link for Computers in the electronics part of the site or navigate through the site in any manner. Its only when you search that you don't get the description.
These computers do not ship with Microsoft Windows. They ship with an exciting new UNIX based Operating System (OS) named Lindows. This exciting new OS delivers the stability of UNIX with the ease of Windows and the ability to run most Microsoft programs. These computer systems are a perfect low cost alternative to computers preloaded with Microsoft Windows
Still I see your point that consumers are sometimes so stupid that they won't understand.
Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
Ok fucktard . . . . .
First clue: that's not the twin towers, that not even NYC.
Second: Not every reference or image the towers has to be censored, treated with kid gloves, or "put in appropriate context." Do you want to live in a society like Japan's, where large parts of history are simply ignored and not talked about ? How far are you willing to take this PC bullshit ?
Walmarts idea is probably something like this: they can save money on the computers this way, and they probably don't really care about what their customers use it for (do they have a reason to? Do they have to offer support etc.?), so that would explain things....
I think that this is the real reason. They don't want to catch 10 kinds of hell from MS about selling "naked" PCs, so they throw Lindows on it instead. Net cost to them? Nothing. Bitching from MS about selling naked PCs? None. Net loss to a consumer who wants a naked PC in order to install a pirated copy of Windows? None. Bitching from MS about selling PCs with a competitor's product? None, if MS doesn't want to put a neon sign over their collective heads that reads "illegal use of monopoly power".
Besides, what likely is going to happen is that a user will get it home with Lindows, find out that it isn't Windows and it won't run whatever game they want to play, and then they'll come back to WallyWorld to buy a full copy of Windows XP. That's a bigger sale to WalMart and a bigger sale for MS. The only people who really have anything to lose from it are the Lindows folks who stand to gain a fair amount of negative press if they piss off consumers. Instead of looking like a company that is trying to bring Linux to the mainstream user with an easy-to-use compatible Windows-like interface they run the risk of looking like someone peddling a cheap knock-off that is trying to trade on Microsoft's name.
the irony of mateing the sentiment of your post with the sentiment of your .sig is almost overwhelming.
About ten years ago I worked at a Fortune 500 company that made minicomputers with a proprietary OS and was starting to move into PC products hosted on XENIX.
The extent of UNIX penetration into the desktop mainstream was a topic of constant discussion
One day, Radio Shack announced that they would be selling UNIX-based systems. The announcement was widely carried as a news item in the trade press, often with deep-think commentary. Highly placed UNIX advocates within the company started circulating memos mentioning it, and in almost any conference-room discussion someone would say "It's all changed, haven't you heard, why even Radio Shack is selling UNIX now."
So I did a reality check.
About three months after the announcement, I walked into a Radio Shack. Not one of your mall stores, but one of the big Radio Shack Computer Centers or whatever they were called. I said I wanted to try out one of their UNIX systems hands-on, and I wanted a catalog showing what software they had for it.
After glad-handing me and assuring me that, yes, indeed, Radio Shack was backing UNIX to the hilt, they showed me their UNIX system.
Yes, they did have one.
It was a PC running XENIX. It was not turned on. They would not turn it on for me, because the only person who knew how to use it was a consultant who came in one day a week. There were no brochures, no sales material.
The only software catalog was their general PC software catalog, which had about 32 densely packed pages of (mostly) DOS-based software, several pages of Windows-based packages, and finally about four column-inches of UNIX offerings, most of which were UNIX itself. There were, I think, one or two Accounts Receivables packages and so forth.
It wasn't exactly untrue that Radio Shack was selling UNIX, but it certainly didn't mean what people thought it meant.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
It's sort of depressing to see just how elitist/bourgeois/classist many of these comments are, especially those concerning these so-called "rednecks" who shop at Wal-Mart. I mean, isn't one of the "great things" about Linux, and GNU in general, the ideal that operating systems, software and information in general "want to be free"? Or that people shouldn't have to pay $100-400+ for a modern operating system? Or that Linux and Open Source software is revolutionary, capable of breaking the grasp that Microsoft holds over the CONSUMER market? So now you have Wal-Mart, a major retailer, offering complete machines with an OS and a number of useful applications at a price that is lower than the MSRP for the full version of Windows XP Pro. And rather than cheering about how this could potentially be a major opportunity for a Linux distribution to make signficant inroads with the CONSUMER market (remember the revolution?), many respondents have sought to portray the people who will purchase these systems as ignorant, foolish, uneducated, and/or intellectually inferior. Wow, what happened to all the populist ideals above?
Walmart.com contributes to less than 0.1% of Walmart's 220Billion revenue, of which less than 4% comes from PC sales, of which maybe around 20% comes Microteck PC sales, of which maybe 50% come from OS-less/Lindows sales of which 80% may actually have Linux/Windows
Doing a quick & dirty math, I get a high end figure of
220,000 * 0.001 * 0.04 * 0.2 * 0.5 * 0.8
or 0.7 million dollars in sales or maybe around 1450 PC's. For Linux those maybe huge numbers, but remember their are 600 Million PC's in the world
Put it another way, Microtek doesn't sell any more number of PC's than an average white-box seller
Time for reality check & perspective
Roshan
Actually, this is not a surprise. Think of stock car racing. It grew out of average folks with limited budgets buying commodity hardware and making it scream with a little tinkering. Today, NASCAR racing is big buisness and very popular with the Wal-Mart crowd. They are gifted with the hacker mentality.
Wal-Mart is just making it possible for the next generation of gear heads to soup up the next generation of hardware.
Think of this. So what if the hardware isn't on the high end. So what if all their Windows games aren't supported. I'd like to see people out there (eg. high school/trade school shop teachers/LUGs) showing people how to combine the power of their systems or tweak the shit out of them. Heck at $300 some folks would be willing risk gluing a refrigerator to their CPU!
The fun will come from racing the tweaked-out systems, bringing them together to render awesome graphics, or participating in multi-player games.
This is a HUGE opportunity to foster LUGs in places other than the "big city".
Good Luck.
I just cannot believe that you feel Walmart is doing this to "take a stab at selling Lindows computers." I'll tell you what this is about:
The almighty dollar.
Walmart does not care about Linux geeks clutching their little stuffed penguins and waving their "Open Source" flags. They do not care about someone who walks into a store to tell the tech department that they should sell machines with Linux on it. They care about money. They have always cared about money, and they always will care about money. They are the most efficient corporation in the whole world, and they are efficient because it makes money. Anyone who thinks that Walmart's #1 priority is not about money needs to take some courses in Economics, wake up, and smell the capitalism.
I've been working in the backstock rooms of Walmarts for three years now, and I've overheard the managers on quite a few occasions. Walmart demands cheap prices from their distributors. They're the #1 retailer in the US, so they have the power to do so. They lure distributors into their system by offering to sell thier product, then stab them in the back a year or two later and demand the product be cheaper, or they'll find someone else. This leads product manufacturers to use overseas labor and/or lower the quality of the product, all to stay buddies with Walmart. When you see the adds of Walmart lowering their prices, they can do so because its not their company that takes a hit in profits...it's the manufacturers that do.
I'm sure Walmart did the same thing with this Microtel company when they asked for computers. When Microtel was put under the gun to make a cheaper computer, I'm sure they cut every single corner. Just look at it from a $$$ perspective..."Hey Walmart, we got this OS that looks like Windows, runs like Windows, and can run %90 of Windows software, but we can put it on every machine for absolutely no charge!"...Walmart will say yes, because they now have a "Windows-ish" computer that sells for $100 less than the competition.
And for those of you who say that there might be a high-return rate? Walmart doesn't care. If people return their computers, all Walmart has to do is box it up and ship it back to Microtel. The only loss that they take is paying some 16-year old $2 to take the time to box it back up and stick it on a pallet. It's certainly worth their time, considering that these computers are %10-%20 cheaper than the competition. If it fails, Walmart returns the computers, Walmart dumps Microtel and finds another manufacturer, and Microtel goes belly-up, and Walmart leaves unscathed. If it's a success, Walmart gets the credit.
Wake up and smell the dollar bills.
Guess it depends on what you want to do on your PC.. but I can't see Lindows making as good an impression as the 'real mcoy' would make.
This isn't a kick at Lindows - I haven't tried it out yet, but I do really want to - and I really admire that they have had the guts to have a go at a project like this..
Its just that for the average 'redneck user', Lindows just wont be Windows. You wont be able to play all your games, and you wont be able to run all your apps.. I wish it was possible to have perfect cross compatability but hey-ho..
It'll be interesting to see what happens though..
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
All things have a potential for good or bad. Simply put.
:).
If there is to be the software revolution for the consumer, the consumer is going to have to be the one to make the choice and must have the option readily available.
Desktop pre-installs of Lindows is doing just that. It is putting an alternative in front of the economic power base that must make the choice of acception or rejection.
Despite what it seems, marketing and product sales
is the one field that is controlled by the common person and not the high level wealth. Why else would you have millions paid for Nascar or motorbike sponsorships? Bus panels for public transit?
Potential harm to Linux on the whole? Limite in my views. As far as I understand, Lindows is being advertised not as Microsoft Windows or as a Linux distribution, but as a growing bridge between them.
This could very well be a wake up call to software manufacturers. Or it could very well be another software tombstone. Risk.
I have yet to try Lindows. But I would not that there would be proprietary workarounds for some of X's quirks.
Let's just see. Hey, after all, MSDOS and Windows
were built off of someone else's work. Look what we have now