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Mandrake Hits Wal-Mart (.com)
caveat writes: "The Register is reporting that Wal-Mart is shipping PCs with Mandrake preinstalled. 'Prices range from $391 for a 900MHz Duron machine to $648 for a 2GHz Pentium 4 with CD-RW.' more power to them." So now walmart.com customers seeking a pre-installed Free OS aren't limited to Lindows. I wonder if any Wal-Mart manager is brave enough to actually set up a few machines in-store. Update: 07/15 15:35 GMT by T : As many people have pointed out, the systems running Mandrake -- just like the Lindows machines on offer -- are only available through Wal-Mart's website.
I may go buy one to use as a test machine just to help prove that people will buy one. At $400 I think I can swallow not building my own just to provide proof of concept to the powers that be.
It's a 1.1 Gig Celeron and it comes with ThizLinux. Its been on the front page of their ad for a few weeks now.
I'm probably gonna suggest my computerless newbie friend pick one up.
I just wish it was Mandrake ore Redhat with OpenOffice and a cvs of Winex pre-installed.
I find it odd that Wal-Mart is the one who is starting to sell the Linux based OSs. It's great that they are, but I figured it would be someone like Radio Shack, someone more based on technology.
It's probably Microsoft paying them to do it so they can say that they do have competition. =)
My other sig is an import.
Even though they are clearly in Linux for a buck, that is the ideal situation for retailers. IBM, Sun and the rest, should and do support us technically, Walmart and hopefully soon others by portraying linux as a viable option at the POS.
have you ever seen a PC for sale in a retail walmart store? i sure haven't.
... and get online to order,hunh?
Actually, at the Wal-Mart where I live, they do sell some Computers. HPs if I remember correctly. Not sure of the OS (or lack-thereof), but I'd guess Windows.
as a result, people still have to buy a windows/mac PC
Now they can double their profit, sell you a computer so you can buy a computer.
My other sig is an import.
Believe me, as somebody as part of a (former) web company whose potential client base fell into Radio Shack's domain, Radio Shack is extrememly technophobic. We found them to be one of the least receptive clients of all, and they flat-out admitted to being scared of the web.
Sounds ironic, but it isn't as much as you'd think. All their electronic parts are just plain-Jane caps and resistors, your basic 7400 logic gate IC's, etc. They built their entire consumer electronics market by just rebranding pre-existing Japanese components (back in the 60s and 70s when being Japanese was Bad instead of Good).
When it comes to leading revolutions, Radio Shack is actually a bit behind the curve.....
I agree 100%! One of the biggest things that bothers me also about Walmart, is that the whole damned Walmart family are the most richest in America, but only because of the one guy, the founder Sam. The rest are just leeches doomed to a life of never having to sweat or actually work for a living. Those are the people I hate the most!!
Other than some extra RAM and a CDRW the pricing is pretty much the same between the Mandrake comps and the M$ Windows comps .. and the Mandrake one is loaded with loads of pre-installed bloatware software .. I would have expected a big difference in price / not a small difference in components ..
Microsoft Windows XP Home
AMD 1.3 GHz Duron processor
128 MB memory
40 GB hard drive
$499.00
Mandrake Linux OS v8.2
AMD 1.3 GHz Duron processor
256 MB memory
40 GB hard drive
$498.00
I know that for most people here, finding software for linux is no problem. However, I can't help but feel that not having a "linux" section in the software is going to hurt the sales of these machines. Especially when the customers are going to find out that the vast majority of the software you can buy will probably not work with these machines.
How long until we have a good sized shelf to sit next to these machines with software that can be loaded on them without trouble?
-josh
Why doesn't Slashdot do an "Ask Slashdot" with the person responsible for all this Linux in wal-Mart? Or, at least an interview.
I am glad to see that you can buy more than Windows at Walmart now, so you have some choice. But seriously, the Walmart employees are pretty stupid. Even something as simple as a PS/2 elluded two employees at a local store.
The PS/2 was either turned off, or just crashed (rarely they do...), and I wanted it turned on or reset (can't remember). I asked an employee to do so (just for kicks to see their stupidity)- and they said that they didn't know how. In addition to that, they wondered if the tape was in it- and then commented that they might need to call the sales rep at the manufaturer to come out and reset it.
A few minutes later, they actually carded me when I bought "The Sum of all Fears" game (which doesn't touch Ghost Recon)- I normally don't buy games there, but it was cheap, and I was there. Money==Time.
Point is, that few will buy these machines (unless they just need an emergency Linux box at 2am). This is because the employees are so stupid that they won't know a single thing about the machines or the software. The linux machines won't even be an option that they will show people, or know about themselves. They lack proper training at all.
What they really need is a 30 minute course on how to sell linux (which isn't that hard to teach to someone), as long as they take the 36 month course on how to speak english first...
Hey, I am not against other languages or nationalities, but even Linus has always commented in English (and rather well at it).
Tibbon
tibbon.com
Lately we have seen a few articles pointing out some of areas where the Linux desktop is lacking that might not seem like a big deal to a Geek, but will be viewed as a major short comming by by the general public.
Netscape got a lot of bad press because of 6.0. I Hope we aren't going to see a repeat of that with the Linux desktop on Wal-mart PCs.
Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est
When I worked at Circuit City in '93, a buddy and I used to take the AST on one of the display endcaps and boot it off the Slackware boot- and root-disks, just to scare customers. I think we even installed Linux partitions on a few of the machines there (until we reparitioned a Compaq that kept its BIOS management software in a hidden partition-- oops!). We never had a single customer that wasn't completely flummoxed by the non-Windows OS. I'm not sure it would be any different at Wal-Mart in 2002.
Boy, those were the days-- unauthorized Linux installs, playing DOOM over a null modem cable on working hours. Sometimes, I think I miss retail.
Yes, boxed software, stacks of it in pretty reassuring boxes with manuals, each with installation support. "Joe Sixpack" doesn't even need to know that it's free software. Just that it comes in a box with support and manuals and everything he's come to expect. Not just distros, but 'deluxe editions' of kde, gnome, the gimp, even vim with actual well written easy to follow documentation... Could work. It would be weird seeing free software sold as a commodity, but might even be good for everyone.
OK, so an Unknowning customer buys this Linux machine and takes it home.
Problem 1. Connect to the Internet. The customer calls his local internet provider, Cable, DSL, or dial-up and says he want's to setup his system to connect to the net. The Internet provider sends him the software. Hmmm, where's the Linux install. Call back the provider. The provider asks what Operating system he's running. Customer repsonds "Linux". Click!
Problem 2. Swapping files. The customer's best friend just downloaded this cool program and wants him to try it. Hmmm, just stick the disk in and and run setup?
Problem 3. U.S. Federal Income Tax Software, Quicken for Linux, MS Office for Linux, Wheel of Fortune for Linux? While there are alternatives, they aren't mainstream.
Problem 4. Computer crashes. No problem take it to the local computer repair center. Ooops, they don't support Linux.
Problem 5. Ohhh, there's a new cool USB 2.0 gadget out for the computer at my local store. I'll buy it and connect it to my system. Hmmm, Linux doesn't recognize the new hardware and there's no Linux install software included with the gadget.
The point is, that Linux, at this time, is only for people that want to download it/buy it, install it, and spend alot of time learning Linux. It's not for people that just want to use it as part of their computer and don't really care what's running in the background as long as they can e-mail, surf, do finances, play games, etc. We Linux zealots often forget that the majority of the population could care less if they're running Wndoze, Linux, or Mac, as long as they can do what they need to do with their computer.
Newbies very often buy a computer with very modest intentions but quickly get comfortable with the machine and then want to start adding programs and doing the same things with it that they see their friends and relatives do.
Yeah, I remember hearing people say they just want the computer to do recipies and geneology, but two months later I look and find a million downloaded shareware programs (all saved to the desktop mind you). When they find that the programs their friends send them don't work, they'll start cursing Linux. It's what happened when Apple started selling their Performa machines in retail stores. Of course, with Apple, the only choice they had was to return the machines. Not with these though.
This is what's gonna happen. They'll be sitting at a barbeque talking about how unhappy they are with it, thinking of taking it back (well, send it back since they're only available online at the moment- if they ever sell retail, we'll see more of this). One guy will speak up, saying how Joe's son came over and installed Windows and Office on his system. Joe's son will become very popular as he goes from house to house charging $40 to install XP Pro (corporate version without activation he downloaded from Kazaa) along with Office XP. The systems "work" now, so everyone is happy.
I expect most people who do buy these machines will do so, some after they figure out they can't run Windows programs, while others will have purchased the machines with the intent to have Joe's son load XP on it.
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
I love Linux, and use it instead of Windows at home.
Recently, someone hit my car, so I had to buy a 25 year old truck to just to have something to drive. Since then, I've had to become a mechanic of sorts. I've fixed all sorts of little things on that truck in the last few months, and I actually find that kind of stuff *enjoyable*.
So here I am, typing this message on Slashdot, on my Slackware 8.1 box, and I look at my figernails and what do I see? I see grease and oil that I couldn't get off of my hands from replacing my truck's shocks this weekend.
So the ignornant people of this site can call me a redneck if they like. I personally would have never thought that I was the type to do mechanic work... And I am sure that none of you would ever think that some "redneck" could be a Linux "hacker".
Excuse me... I am going to affix a Tux sticker to my truck's bumper, along side the STP and hunting club stickers that were already there when I bought the truck.
Early in 2002, Walmart starts to sell PCs without Windows
"Oh my god, all the software won't run!, they are doomed!"
A couple of months later, they start selling PCs with Lindows.
"Oh my god, all the software won't run! Nobody will buy them, everybody will return them!"
A couple of weeks later, they start selling PCs with Mandrake Linux.
"Oh my god, all the software won't run! They do this only to sell them Windows extra!"
Are people around here really so stupid not to realize that if everybody would want Windows preinstalled, Microtel/Walmart would have stopped selling Windows-less PCs A LONG TIME AGO? Is really anybody so stupid to think that if too many Lindows-PCs were returned they just go ahead and ship PCs with Mandrake?
Face it: This is a big win for Linux, a big win for competition and a big win for all computer users (including Windows users, strong Linux adoption will force Microsoft to drop Palladium, believe me.)
It's not a singular event, it's a series of events (first OS-less, then with Lindows, then Mandrake) that is enough evidence that there is a market for it and is successful in the market.
Microsoft is on the decline. On every market (including desktops) they are in the defensive. They have pissed off so many companies (IBM with Windows, Sony with XBox and AOL/TM with MSN, plus tens of others) that they are the underdog.
I also suspect that Walmart's license negotiations with Microsoft may be more difficult in the future....
Not that Wal-Mart is any sort of "Mecca High-Technologique", but Microsoft needs Wal-Mart a LOT more than Wal-Mart needs Microsoft. Why?
Check this out.
Yup, that's right. Wal-Mart is FIRST in the world with annual revenues of $219 billion. Microsoft was 175th with revenues of $25 billion.
Ladies and germs, that's an order of magnitude difference in revenue.
Also, notice that the difference between Wal-Mart and #2 (Exxon-Mobil) is $28 billion, which is also > MS revenue. The truth is that Microsoft is "big", but Wal-Mart redfines "biggest". In the accompanying Fortune article, they point out that $220 bil is more than any company ever made in a year. Ever.
This is important because among the long list of gripes people levy against Wal-Mart is their notoriously cutthroat approach to strong-arming manfacturers and distibutors. They dictate what, how, when, where and how much. Unless you own your own country where you can lock them out, you pretty much do what they want or give up the opportunity to have your products sold off their shelves.
Think about it this way. If MS sold eveything they made direct thru Wal-Mart, they would only provide about 10% of Wal-Mart's revenue, and that's at high margins Wal-Mart wouldn't be willing to pay.
WM: "You want to charge us *how much* for WinXP Home Edition? BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! That's, like, a 90% markup over your per-unit costs! You'll take $10 a copy and like it or go elsewhere and take your stupid X-boxen with you.
The two questions to which I wasn't able to find answers while typing this are: what are the top ten US Computer System Retailers (# of units/year) and is Wal-Mart one of them?
Anyone know?
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
Microsoft. Wal-Mart's just sending a message Microsoft. The ol' boys in Bentonville like to wield Wal-Mart's buying power to negotiate great exclusive pricing deals with vendors. You can be sure that, Microsoft, being a monopoly does not feel a strong need to negotiate. MSFT's monopoly is more solid than WMTs.
So... The Wal-Mart boys think, "We'll show them. We'll WILL feature the product of the competion until they come the table."
So Wal-Mart makes all kinds of noise about featuring Linux on PCs. The aren't serious about it because they know their Joe Six-Pack customer isn't gonna grok Linux, but they hope that maybe the shoutin' will embarrass them and bring Microsoft back with a sweeter deal.
If Microsoft gives Wal-Mart an exclusive price on bundling Windows the Linux PCs will disappear from Wal-Mart's shelves.
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly