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AOL's new Linux PC
minus_273 writes " MSNBC (of all places ) has an intersting article about AOLs new PC. We have already heard of Lindows , WALMART PC and there was speculation of AOL Red Hat. Well, it looks like this is what AOL decided to do. All 3 are mixed into one. AOL now has a beta 7.0 client that is distributed with Lindows along with AIM and Netscape. I wonder if this stuff will work on normal Linux without WINE."
I would imagine that this just might be the ticket--a major stepping stone toward widespread Linux acceptance. Surely it won't be long before there is a Linux AOL client that will be ported over to all sorts of Linux platforms, if the one discussed doesn't technically run on different flavors of Linux upon release.
Progress!
Loomis
"The television is the retina of the mind's eye" - Videodrome
I use linux and have had an AOL account since 1994. AOL had some troubles when they launched unlimited service, but they are now quite reliable, and nationwide. With linux, they will support the 3 major platforms. I dont like time warner, but they give us Netscape / Mozilla, Winamp and ICQ for free. For the average American to use Linux, we need an isp like AOL that is nationwide, and supports linux.
-- the computer doesn't want any beer, no matter how much you think it does. NEVER, EVER feed your computer beer.
1. AOL client for Linux
2. Native game support
Now, as much as I tend to mock AOL users, being that AOL is not a convicted monopolist, they're the lesser of two evils by far. But now that #1 on my list looks like it's happening, MS better be very nervous. There's millions of AOL users who own a computer and do nothing but connect to AOL on it. There's now NO compelling reason for them to use Microsoft software.
This news has made my day. I'm being optimistic and hopeful here, but could this day signal the beginning of the end of Microsoft? (Especially since some games are coming out with native Linux support.. like Unreal Tournament 2003)
Most people with proficiency in Linux hopefully aren't dumb enough to use AOL.
Most people with proficiency in AOL have no idea what Linux is.
Xavodim.com
This goes a long way towards bringing Linux desktop to the masses. Once grandma can check her AOL mail with the "you've got mail" sound and can read the Steve Case community updates, she'll be happy with her PC since it does everything that she expects.
Um, ICQ was free long before AOLTimeWarner ever got their hands on it. ICQ has turned into ugly, ad-filled bloatware since it was bought out. I miss the streamlined design the interface had seven years ago.
Denver Isuzu Suzuki
The question is, would they still be free had AOL not stepped in and funded their continued development thanks to their subscribers' revenue?
:)
Maybe. Maybe not.
"Old man yells at systemd"
What in the world was he expecting?
More generally, this is very neat news. I know many people's parents and grandparents who would love a new machine for $200, as long as they can run AOL.
sheephead
7d9e63e9501751ff4bf9307989d5623d *SheepHead
MSNBC (of all places )...
Of course they're going to give a good review to a microtel pc running Lindows. This way, people will go out and buy it, realize it's crap, and from then on think Linux is crap.
It's time to lose the "MSNBC (of all places)" type comments. They consistently put out interesting tech stories with no bias towards or against Microsoft, and I they seem take their journalistic impartiality seriously.
No, I don't work for them.
A few kudos to AOL though
- AOL floppies were formattable (free blank disks)
- AOL CD's became coasters, the new cases are rugged and nice for DVD's/etc
- As you mentioned, they support Netscape/Winamp/ICQ.
I reserve the right to apply a -1 to AOL for ICQ adware. I use trillian so it doesn't matter to me, I use their network so they still provide me with a decent service. The needs suit the audience. If AOL can help people get online and on linux, I really don't mind them - so long as they're not lagging up my battle.net games.3: Somebody's lagging, who's your ISP?
2: What's an ISP?
1: The company that provides your internet connection
2: Oh, I'm using AOL
1: Kill player 2 first, he's AOL, that'll clear the lag
Yes, I often saw this on b-net - phorm
Hey, maybe they'll bundle both their linux client software and oppenoffice. Kick Micro$oft in the balls twice as hard.
Or would they even be around today? Netscape was doing poorly to say the least when it was bought by AOL.
And people don't do that with Windows already?
Before I moved, I was Windows support for a _lot_ of people. Part of what helps Windows is that there's already the network of friendly computer literate people that know it.
Now, I'm not saying that Linux is just as easy as Windows. Not looked in for a little while but it certainly wasn't then and information I've heard since hasn't suggested that's changed. But, it remains that Windows is already beyond many users, so Linux being so isn't as much of a problem as some people think.
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
It only got one line of play in the article but that fact that Wal-Mart is selling the same computer for a $100 more that includes windows is significant.
Never before has the public been offered such clear presentation of the real cost of Windows. (At least not in such a large forum.)
Always before MS has been able to hide the cost the consumer is paying. Now that Wal-Mart draws it out in black and white, users will finally have a REAL choice about what OS they want to use on their PC.
People buy the computers they have to use at work.
Why do you think the IBM PC exploded at home, when it SUCKED at Games/Graphics/Sound up until the mid-late 90s??
So office workers could drag their lotus 1-2-3 and related shit home and work on it after watching Wheel of Fortune.
The Amigas and Apples had capabilites that SHAMED the IBM PC when it came to games.
Big, slow, ugly PC.
Granted, if they got KOffice/StarOffice/OpenOffice working on these machines, it'd be a much better start.
"Anonymous Coward" is just the default name that Slashdot inserts when someone posts without creating a login, and then logging in. While it is true that years ago alot of trolls didn't bother to log in, these days, it's more likely that a troll has a +1 bonus and an anonymous coward is someone who has something insightful to say, but doesn't want to be bothered with logging in.
On a system with many users, limiting the damage caused to a single user to himself is a necessity. On a system with one user/administrator, it's meaningless.
Besides, can you really think of any single click that can render the system unusable? In any case, if the user is persuaded to enter a command or install a trojan, forcing them to type the root password first makes no difference.
Having users and accounts also doesn't help Internet security much. Email worms aren't affected at all, and many important servers (like sshd) have to run as root anyways. And a server running as a lesser user can still cause just as much harm to the Internet, for instance by participating in a denial of service attack, or relaying spam.
Many linux users would refuse to use AOL. But an AOL user WOULDN'T refuse to use linux(if correctly packaged). Why? Because a typical AOL user doesn't want to know what OS they're using. They want to check their mail, look at web pages and maybe use a word processor. Any OS that can allow them to do those things easily will satisfy them. So if Lindows makes it easy to setup and get online, and easy to start the aol interface the users already know and (somehow manage to) love, and easy to do simple word processing, and significantly cheaper than a windows pc, maybe it'll take off.
So I say more power to them. If 10% of aol users (that's 3.5 million people by the article's numbers) got set up with one of these, it would be a very good thing for the internet and standards. It will make that much more disincentive for sites and services to go microsoft only. Rip on AOL all you like, but they've got enough users to make some noise. What business wants to alienate that many people? I'd like to see a few million additional linux users, especially from a hard-to-reach demographic like that.
It's hard to convince non-technical people to do the right thing on technical issues. This way they'll be doing the right thing without really knowing it.
I just wish aol would give the pc away with the service, for maybe $10 per month more for 20 months or something.
I'd agree with you, except for one thing. A lot of software I want/need to run is not available on Linux. If Linux develops to the point where "average morons" use it --- even if it's not a particularly overwhelming percentage --- more software companies will find it worth their while to port their products to Linux. Therefore I do have a significant interest in seeing widespread adoption of Linux by average users.
But the glory of this deal is that Linux is slowly coming to the Mass Market. Billy Joe-Bob Windoze User will have the option of something as idiot-proof as AOL and as cheap as Linux. If Billy Joe-Bob decides that knocking $100 off the price of his next email machine is worth it for the 'store-brand' OS, he'll do it, and Linux has just swept another sale right out from under Microsoft.
This is how Linux finally meets Microsoft on Redmond's own ground.
How can you use my intestines as a gift? -Actual Hong Kong subtitle.
For many years, computers were the rich person's toy.
This is a system that almost anyone can afford.
Now there is a decent little box, running a decent Linux OS that can also run some Windows stuff and there will soon be an AOL version that will run on it.
For a lot of people, this is just what they need for themselves or as a computer/homework machine for the kids.
Sure, the savvy Linux user won't touch it with a stick. To quote Frank N. Furter, "I didn't make it... FOR YOU!"
Stop lamenting about what it doesn't do. Contemplate what it DOES do.
With one stroke, millions of people who formerly could not own a computer, can now have their OWN COMPUTER. They can access the internet. They have the WWW at their fingertips.
This is wonderful. This is nigh-miraculous.
FInally, WE ALL OF US were clueless newbies the first time we sat before a keyboard.
Let the clueless newbies who buy this $200 system make their mistakes and learn from them.
Eventually, they will grow curious and try something new. Something new like a Mandrake or Debian or Red Hat distro CD.
Personally, something like this that chafes the corporate scrotum of MS can't be all bad.
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
Not sure about 800mhz part, but a 1ghz C3 is about equivalent to a 800mhz celeron in int tests, and vastly worse in float tests.
:p
It seems that it has a horrible FPU, and fairly decent ALU. Hey, it's 200$ for the whole machine, not bad if all you want to do is web browse, play 2d games, check email and go on AOL chat rooms
But I agree, this is not good avertising to call it similiar to a 800mhz celeron (or 850mhz duron, which is even more far fetched).
I disagree on this. Boycotting Lindows, why? All they are doing is trying it help, maybe its not the perfect but its a step in the right direction. Running default as root is pretty dangerous, but then again this is a altenative to windows, you have to give the users a "similar" experience. A lot of Windows users that might buy a WalMart Lindows PC might not know whats going on when they get prompted for a password, might think its broke or get scared. I know its a sad truth but the majority of the markey still aren't very tech savvy. I also believe AOL for Lindows will hopefully get the word out that Linux is also for the desktop not for those enormus expensive servers.
Slashdot Quick Guide to Morality 0.1:
Protaganists
-----
Linux
FSF
OSS
Antagonists
-----------
Microsoft
RIAA
MPAA
Victims
-------
Walmart
AOL
Apple
Federal Government
Directions: choose any ONE entity from either 'Protaganists' or 'Antogonists'. Match with any ONE 'Victim' and said victim will magically absorb/acquire all moral attributes (good + bad) of it's partner.
Example: This story = (AOL+Linux) = Protaganist = hooray!
likewise
Rendezvous = (Apple+OSS) = Protaganist = hooray
however
Office X = (Apple+MS) = Antagonist = booo!
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