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Wal-Mart to Offer Wal-Mart Notebooks
ducomputergeek writes "Cnet News.com is running an article that Wal-Mart plans to launch its own line of notebook computers. I wonder if these will run Lindows or XP. We've purchased a couple low cost boxes with no OS's for cheap file servers and they've worked pretty well."
Interesting admission indeed. I am calling the SPA right now. I'd like to see those Win2003 server licenses Michael.
A Wal-Mart notebook to go right next to my Arby's MP3 player. Although perhaps the logo can be sandblasted off so that users won't die of embarassment.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Let's all hope that the laptop has hardware that is compatible with linux drivers =D!!!!
eh? eh? uh oh....*dodges tomatoes*
Join the TWIT army now!
I've been shopping walmart.com for tech books for quite awhile (they are the cheapest)! This is good news, I wonder if they will be offering Linux on the laptops, or any other desktops!
So let me guess, instead of Clippy you have a little bouncing yellow smiley face that keeps darting in and changing the numbers on all your Excel documents?
As opposed to all those US made laptops?
Bazing!
I once walked into a department store, ctrl-alt-del'ed the winblowz screensaver (back in the days when you could), wrote a 2 line asm .com file to reboot the computer, added it to autoexec.bat, and rebooted. Endless rebooting fun, the look on the sales peoples' faces was priceless.
It was how to fuck with Kmart. I lost the file when my hard drive dies in '96, But I remember, bro =)
There's a neat link at the bottom of the article to another article about $200 being the magic number for PCs.
I've always thought this would be a neat idea for corporations: Several fairly powerful servers, running everything from file sharing to groupware (on BSD or Linux, SMP, etc.). A bunch of cheap PCs with no hard drives and Knoppix-type CDs configured for the company's network. All files accessed via NFS, etc.
Talk about a) inexpensive solution and b) easy support. The computers are throwaways, and you don't have to move data from a broken one to a new one. It's all on the servers. But the computers are still powerful enough to do plenty of processing on their own.
Upgrades are a cinch - distribute new CDs to everyone.
With $200 computers (how much cheaper would they be without hard drives?) it's more than possible.
Hrm.
I claim first use of "Error No. 0B" - or "No. 0B error." It'll be the new ID 10T!
They are rebranded machines from Asia, so expect about the same level of linux/*BSD/etc support as any other obscure lowest bidder import type of notebook (kludgy but improving). It will be interesting to see if this takes off though. Laptops are, for many people, more of a fashion accessory than a computing device (think marketroid/execubot wannabe gearheads). Walmart brand laptop wouldn't have the same fashion value as a "Ubertron Mega Wassus 90009".
====
Crudely Drawn Games
Of course I'm sure the locla Circuit City and COMPUSA will manage to come up with a suitable sob story. Anyone want to take bets on how long it is before one of these chains makes a press release about how Wallmart's action is "bad for the consumer and local computer stores......"
Clearly we need a South Park episode about this..
"Wallmark is bad m'kay..."
-jon
I wonder if these will run Lindows or XP.
:p
Does this question really need to be asked? They will run FreeBSD of course!
Saying your OS is the best because more people use it is like saying MacDonalds make the best food
10 PRINT "Trash 80s suck!"
20 GOTO 10
running it and walking out. Ah, memories!
Let me guess they have spiral binding and come with their own pencil!
WalMart comes into a market and undercuts everyone. This can only be good, since lets face it everything is made in Asia anyway, so it's not like Americans are making any money on PCs. Maybe they can take on the 200% Dell markup.
:)
The down side is you can only buy one if you can place the order in Spanish
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
I don't care if it isn't able to run the latest video games. I'd like to see a sturdy notebook computer that has good battery life and a price under $500.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Umm, such Network PCs were talked about before, hasn't really caught on...
Thank You.
See for yourselves.
Is it me or by 2025 everything will be Walmart. I can see this orwellian type world, where 20 story tall Walmart stores dominate the landscape. And giant city sized Walmart's where the peons (everybody) work, like the middle age vassals all over again. Your overlord will be Baron Von Mildred, the silver haired 400 year old woman who greets you everyday with a smile and a cat o'nine tails. Gonna be fun!
"For the same reason Dell and Gateway can get TVs, there's no reason Wal-Mart can't get computers," Baker said.
I really hope Wal-Mart decides to sell notebooks with both Lindows and Windows. It will never be mentioned in the press, but many people would buy the cheaper of the two, then chuck Lindows and replace it with a pirated copy of Windows.
Microsoft will no doubt fight this tooth and nail. They know that seeing two identical machines side by side in Wal-Mart, people will see how expensive Windows really is. Then there will be more reason to mainstream more Linux software, especially games.
Ruby on Rails Screencast
Alienware and Sager both already sell Clevo laptops as their own house brand (after neon spraypaint, etc.). Pretty good units, so a Walmart-branded one might be an OK computer.
There are already comments whining about Walmart quality - how much differentiation is there among the vast majority of PC's today anyhow? Sure there's always premium gear, but most of the stuff for sale in stores, whether it says WalMart, HP, or Dell on it is all low-end gear designed for price, and will probably last out its useful lifecycle.
It is surprising how WalMart is making the high-tech play; netflix, itunes, now laptops, yet they've skipped consumer electronics (no walmart-branded TV's, DVD players, etc.). Their other areas for house brands are clothing and pharmaceuticals - seems like they target areas where they think there is alot of profit, and try to take some fat out of it.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Lindows XP
and in microsoft style- BETA release 3, but we're calling it a final release.
-Grump
Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
Just what I've been looking for from the morality-dictating retail king.
I will expect features like:
-Built-in browser prevents users from viewing maximmagazine.com, stuffmagazine.com and fhmus.com.
-Built-in MP3 software doesn't play songs with profanity in them, and will not play Sheryl Crow's second album at all.
If they went with XP the price would go up by at least $100, and all of the things you mentioned are much easier to do on OS X (yes I'm well aware that it won't run on x86) than god awfull Windows XP.
Carpe meam simiam!
everybody is interested in seeing Windows or Linux on one of these machines, but how about no OS at all! no crashes, no bugs, heck it won't even start up providing one of the most secure environments you can get :)
It is immensely difficult to compete with a corporation that gets massive amounts of government assistance in tax incentives and loans. The idea that Walmart won in the marketplace isn't true. They beg local governments for preferntial treatment in everything from tax treatment to land zoning. These are the reason Walmarts prices can get so low. Corporate welfare for the largest retailer in the world.
How quickly we have all forgotten, from just weeks ago, Walmart's hiring of illegal aliens too.
It'd be called an Asda laptop which - trust me here - is way better than say, a Lidl or a Spar laptop...
1) Windows OEM price is $20 for XP Home, $35 for XP Professional Full Edition.
2) MacOS and "cheaper" in the same post sound like oxymoron. Steve Jobs gets a $1M raise, so Apple suckers better buy overpriced iPods, or the company is the dumpster.
As opposed to all those US made laptops?
Good point -- I would prefer a Beijing, China computer to one
designed/specified/built in Bentonville, Ark. by Wal-Martian leaders
only contract in the US like the other computer sellers.
If Walmart were to start selling laptops without a microsoft tax on them, I'd be taking a look at them.
They already carry a notebook computer for $799. It's a Northgate 1 Ghz Celeron, 14" display and DVD drive, running Windows XP Home Edition:
u ct _id=2416516&cat=3951&type=19&dept=3944&path=0%3A39 44%3A3951#long_descr
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?prod
Not much of a savings if they bring out their brand laptop, IMO.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
XP does come with a spell checker, perhaps you should reconsider.
Nah, go back to suggesting using Macs (non-monitor boxes start at, what, $1800 or so to compete with the mentioned $300 WalMart boxes?) where they're perfectly appropriate.
It is well known that OEM licenses for Windows can go as low as $10. Only someone who is 1) stupid, 2) naive, or 3) a liar would posit that the full retail price of Windows that you see at Best Buy is actually added to a system price from someonelike Dell.
I question whether Wal-Mart won't become the next target of a government anti-trust violation.
A better program is:
10 A$=""
20 A$=A$+INKEY$
30 PRINT A$;
40 GOTO 20
As far as I know, this short program makes the best simple textmode interactive 'screen dazzler'. Fill it with words and CR's and a few control-Gs and you've got a swirly mess that catches the eye.
I've used it for stream-of-conciousness typing excercizes. Works best on as slow a machine as you can get it to run on. A 386SX-16 or (better yet) an 8088 or '286 machine is fine.
Not sure if it works on my TRS-80 Model 100, which doesn't have batteries in it at the moment.
A Good Intro to NetBS
most people who purchase laptops are not purchasing their first machine. onw, where most people who buy the emachines $399 at best buy, or the microtel (?) special at wal-mart for $199 are not going to jump on a $799 laptop. in some markets, price is everything, like gasoline. but in some markets, there are other intangible factors. not the least of course is the fact that going into most laptop type environs (offices, coffee shops, college classrooms, etc.) there will be a stigma.
let me give you an example. in william grieder's book "secrets of the temple" about the federal reserve, (great book), he tells the story of bluefish. now, for those of you who don't kow much about bluefish, it is plentiful on the east coast, but not the best eating fish. but, when bluefish prices were higher, it sold more. as it price dropped, it actually sold less. why? well, it became a "cheap" fish. when it's price went back up, its sales did too. with the laptops, apple is selling tons, and they are not the cheapest. i don't think wal-mart will sell lots of laptops. people are looking for something a little more. for me, the clincher on the ibook was the screen. i couldn't deal with the cheaper laptop screens. my guess is that most laptop buyers are a little more discriminatory.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
(And as a Walmart Employee) Walmart has to be stoped.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Maybe because they've never been really cheap.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
*groan*
Pretty Pictures!
I vote for XP. People can watch videos, edit their digital camcorder stuff and listen to a whole bunch of Internet radio stuff, as well as download iTunes.
Hell, yes!. How else can one get pwned for under $100 (previous Windows version required)?
Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
Not quite right.
Citrix for example is heavily used. Mainly in Callcentres and such but they are used. Were I work right now we have several Citrix farms as we have several call centres all across the country.
The backend is all Unix (HP & Sun, even some DEC) but the frontend is all Windows with Citrix.
Thin Clients are on their way, most likely from IBM, Flatpanel and all.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
Apple eat your heart out!
You aren't kidding.
I just built a Linux computer for my parents (dad's an older guy in his 60's) instead of a windows machine... and it's precisely because of the software cost.
A little shuttle cube, duron processor, 512 of RAM, 160GB drive, DVD/CD-RW combo drive... all for under 500 bucks. When he wanted windows, I informed him that his OS, office suite, and antivirus would almost double the cost of his computer... I did a quick assessment and realized he could do all the stuff he wanted on Linux (including utilize a USB printer and a USB scanner). I even set it up so I can administer it remotely via SSH (or even webmin tunneled over SSH if I'm feeling really lazy).
Needless to say, my mother and father are now big fans. I say good for Walmart if they want to market machines with linux and windows side-by-side... I'd like to see the sales numbers on that deal.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
PCs are now a real commodity. Think about it. Walmart has it's own brand name for the other clones. Sam's Choice Cola for example. My first PC was a 286/16 that I bought for $250 out of computer shopper. The 20 MB Kalok hard drive was another $200. The video card set me back $100 and the monochrom VGA monitor was another $150. Let's not even start to talk about the price of memory at that time. Of course my $900 TRS-80 CoCo was my favorite computer of all. Maybe these Walmart computers are Sam's Choice PC's.
Zoid.com
Redundant.
Is that Walmart that you are talking about or Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq, etc?
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Wal-Mart is the Microsoft of stores. Wal-Mart is crushing American companies. They demand lower prices, forcing American companies to outsource overseas, causing losses of American jobs. If they cannot or will not cut the prices to levels that require slave labor, Wal-Mart goes to overseas companies. The result? Americans who shop at Wal-Mart are shopping themselves out of a job.
I did all of that tonight EXCEPT for download itunes. Admitly, it is the tune download that is not really available by the majors. But, if Walmart loads linux on the laptop, you can bet on it that their new download will be for Linux as well.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Yep,
:-)
:-)
server based computing is the answer.
Forget the CD look at etherboot, no CD no hard disk. No fscking way my users can hose the machine with software. If they break the hardware just wander down with a replacement.
LTSP is one project working on Xterms.
For my money we are still waiting for fault tolerant clusters before this really takes off. I want cheap Xterms connected by ethernet to my FT cluster. A node fails no problem another will auto take over with no downtime ot any user. Auto load balancing ie Mosix. Cheap replacable server farm baby
The best bit is that it's coming, the work is now being done on more than one project
Selling PCs at supermarkets has rocked the German PC market.
ALDI (a very popular discount retailer, similar to Wal-Mart) began selling computers a few years back, both desktop PCs and laptops. They still do so on a regular basis and just this week they had a not-too-bad all-in-one all-purpose PC for home users.
These computers are special time-limited offers, marketed in large quantities over a few days, about twice a year. So limited that when the first series was sold in 1997, one customer tried to secure his PC using a gun.
Aldi has become so successful that its main supplier Medion has slowly become the #1 computer manufacturer in Germany (although it is unclear wether it can hold that spot - the company is struggling, too).
Several other competing supermarket chains have joined the market with their own line of bargain PCs and now there are a number of "Schnappchen PC" offers popping up in several supermarkets chains before Christmas every year. You pick up your fully-installed, ready-to-go PC right next to your milk, bread and toilet paper.
Although computer pros initially laughed at the thought of buying an ALDI PC, it turned out to be a pretty good offer. Thanks to huge numbers of absolutely identical PCs to be sold, the company preparing these boxes had time to slash prices and still do the configuration better than what you'd often get at the likes of Dell or your local selfmade-PC-shop.
The ALDI PC is targeted at home users and its first versions were quite well thought-out and sold like crazy. (See gun story, linked above.)
These days, customers aren't that mad about the ALDI PC anymore, it seems. The recent offerings were more and more prone to feature-overload. The current ALDI PC comes with everything and a kite: Next to the standard stuff it includes a universal card drive, a TV-in card, a remote control, wireless keyboard and mouse, wireless LAN and a DVD burner on top of the DVD read only drive...
But still, ALDI teared down the wall, put massive price pressure on everyone else and literally brought the multimedia PC to the masses with a PC that's actually really ok.
------------------
You may like my a cappella music
The illegal immigrants arrested at walmart stores were employees of a cleaning company, which Walmart outsourced to, they were not directly employed by walmart. I can tell you from experiece that they are very much top of the legal status of their employees.
Secondly, I can tell you from experience that no ameircan citizen who can collect welfare or disability(a big problem in my state)* will work for minimum wage cleaning.
On numerous occations I sat in on interviews with (allegedly "bad" parents) and it goes something like this.
Q: Do you have any health problems?
A: no, I'm fine.
Q: where do you work?
A: I don't I'm on disability
Q: Have you ever used drugs?
A: no
Q: Whens the last time you smoked pot
A: yerterday
The computers are throwaways, and you don't have to move data from a broken one to a new one. It's all on the servers.
What about Sun's system where you have a smart card that you can insert into a computer and your desktop pops up with everything still open, i.e. no logging out and back into the network? Everything is on the server, including any state regarding your login/desktop.
I hate how Windows handles logins. At work I have to download my profile, merge it with what is on the desktop. When I log out, it uploads it back to the network. In Unix/Linux your home directory and configuration reside on the server all the time. With Sun's solution, they take it one step farther -- the workstation is basically a monitor, keyboard and mouse plugged into ethernet.
Kind of reminds me of ye olde client/server systems with a mainframe and "dumb terminals." Now they call them "thin clients," but the concept is the same.
24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
the Lindows Mobile PC they announced earlier:
Lindows Mobile PC
LinuxJournal just did a review of the machine itself in their latest issue and gave it pretty good marks.
They also have an entry on their website about uninstalling all the Lindows branded stuff and upgrading to Debian:
LinuxJournal: Customizing a Lindows MobilePC
--- Brad (http://www.LinuxReview.net)
THAT WAS YOU!?!?! YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!! I spent my high school years clearing that fucking piece of shit program off computers at my dad's radioshack!
http://www.taiwanheadlines.com/20030929/20030929b5 .html
"Sep 29 2003... Taiwan procurements by HP, Dell to top NT$1 trillion: analysts
Frantic global purchase of notebook personal computers has prompted Hewlett Packard (HP) and Dell, the world's two leading PC brands, to increase their purchases in Taiwan.
The two companies' combined procurements from Taiwan are expected to top NT$1 trillion (US$29.7 billion) in 2004."
I was describing this idea back in 1995, and claim no originality for it. This is the NC or Network Computer model.
People talk about the TCO of a PC, such that only about 20% of the total cost of ownership is the cost of the hardware, over the life of the device.
If you break the PC down further, you end up with three functional components, without any of which the device won't operate :
If you then look at where the TCO costs break down over those three components, nearly all of them are incurred by the presence of the HDD. Specifically, it's all the futzing around with the operation system, applications and user data. Additionally, failure rates of HDDs are significantly higher than CPUs or RAM, again incurring higher costs.
Get rid of the HDD, make the PC boot off of the CD-ROM drive, or even better, off of the network, and a significant portion of the TCO disappears.
Some people will argue that you must have a HDD in case the network goes down. Well, what you do is spend some of the money that you save by not having a HDD and the associated maintenance costs, on making the network more reliable. It is still going to be cheaper at the end of the day.
This is a great technical solution, and has been possible at least since 1991 - you could boot PCs off of the network that many years ago.
However, it has never taken off. Why ? Pretty much Microsoft. They make a lot of money from what's put on PC HDD, and they have had such influence over the industry direction that when they came out against it, the Network Computer model never really took off.
The philosophical lesson to learn from this is
the best technical solution isn't necessarily the one that is successful
If you want your best technical solution to succeed, you need to learn to, and work out how to best market it.
The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf
Ah, but there is something that Northgate doesn't have... Massive name brand recognition and an installed consumer base of several million people already in place ^_^
You need a FREE iPod Nano
When I was in high school, and using PDP printer terminals in my computer programming class (yes, this goes way back), I wrote a program that would lock out keyboard input, go into a loop of form feeding paper, and never stop until someone pulled the plug. I then named my little program "SEX.BAS" and put a warning at first when it run that this was a dangerous program, not to touch it.
I left it in our class's shared directory and waited. About 15 minutes later a cluster of male students were sitting around the terminal whispering, when suddenly the paper began form-feeding at high speed and they panicked! Ah, that was fun, preying on the natural curiosity of my fellow geeks.
It's such an evil, evil thing to do to anybody, even your worst enemy.
The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf
At first I thought I wouldn't have to pay even $0.89 for a one-subject notebook.
Then I realized you fuckers are talking about computers.
This is the true turning a PC into a common household good like your TV and VCR. Walmart will certainly sell the wireless internet access kits to make more money. Look for them as well to partner and sell ISP services. Heck they may even start their own ISP if they haven't already. How about a Walmart OS? Open source linux guts with a closed source Walmart GUI. AOL does it for the internet. Why not Walmart for linux. Who do we fear most after this? Walmart or Microsoft? Two monoliths in their own.
Don't worry, it's trademarked.
Try changing the desktop from explorer to notebook.exe in the windows.ini.
Always priceless after a quick reboot.
Second best is putting a password on a screensaver at BestBuy and placing the screensaver in the startup menu.
"Got to be quick salesman! Hit the windows key!"
I hope their price rollback's don't mean my drivers roll back too.
New York, New York:
A new era in ultra-low-cost computer is being ushered in. In September 1998, a startup company calling themselves "eMachines" decided to rise to a challenge only Tandy had previously been able to truly accomplish: set the minimum for all computers produced from their inception on. Today, however, Wal-Mart announced that they will indeed be creating their own ultra-low-cost microcomputers also. This is a shocking announcement that has truly rattled the industry, and eMachines has released a short press statement for all of its concerned investors:
Wayne Inouye, President and CEO of eMachines, has clarified our goal even further with this most recent announcement by rival mass producer of cheaply manufactured goods Wal-Mart: "We will NOT be fazed by this ridiculous move by such a terrible, monstrous, top-grossing company like Wal-Mart! They cannot rival us, for our features at the lowest cost we can possibly churn them out at profitably are just unbeatable! For example, our newest eMachines laptop, yes, it is cheap too, comes STANDARD with USB 1.1! Over 1.1523 times faster than USB 1.0! In addition, you can easily purchase one of our wonderful value monitors in a bundle deal, which we guarantee has no more than 519 dead pixels! C'mon, folks, forget Wal-Mart, just run to Best Buy and pick up an open-box returned eMachines(for even cheaper!)." Further, we plan to release new machines in the spring. A new high-end feature may be AGP expansion slots, so stay tuned to the eMachines corporate investor newsletter for more on this groundbreaking announcement.
Wal Mart is already on the defensive, claiming that the new laptop computers will be "...the first stylish computers under $800 to include a smily face logo somewhere on the machine."
Incredibly, Wal-Mart says it may even venture to include an "...awesome, stunning, 11" XGAVGAVWGVA screen that provides more pixels(a full 480 by 320!!!) for a lower price and more letters!" The company also reportedly plans to offer a 15-inch model for slightly more, upping the resolution to a finely grained 640 by 480.
And in related news, SCO has released a statement that the aforementioned XGAVGAVWGVA screen may somehow have something to do with UNIX, and therefore they have filed a suit for 1,000,000,000,000 dollars, with Darl McBride drunkedly commenting "We's a' gon' takes dem' 'thar economy downs wit' us!"
The new machines will be offered the first quarter of 2004 for an as-yet undetermined price, not to exceed a price which would have at least 75% profitability, sources say.
"If Wal-Mart, which sells PCs from companies such as Hewlett-Packard and eMachines, moves into the notebook market successfully, it could send ripples across the PC industry. The retailer's typically aggressive pricing could compel manufacturers such as Dell, HP and Toshiba to reduce their notebook prices in response, analysts said."
... commodity commodity commodity commodity "
I KNOW there are people who hate Walmart, but I don't. Any store that forces hardware prices down to closer to manufacturing cost is fine by me. Over priced hardware has made over price software viable for far too long. I want to PAY for true innovation and pay commodity prices for things that have long since become commodities.
Picture a big fat guy dancing around on stage clapping his hands:
"commodity commodity commodity commodity
"Give it up for MEEEEE"
Went to watch it with my kids...
Ok, I wanted to see it, so dragged the kids with me to make it count as a family outing...
Anyway, our heros are all lost in the desert, and low and behold, a WALMART in the middle of nowhere.
Bugs makes some big jokes about how much money Warners made for mention walmart a few times.
Was hillarious indeed.
----- LoboSoft specializes in Digital Language Lab
Unfortunately all of them probably.
I have a new IBM T40 - made in China - and I'm pretty unhappy with the material and build quality.
One of the reasons I got it in the first place was due to the ThinkPad's repuation as a well-built, durable laptop.
Arima, as pointed out in this article. It says here that Walmart has already placed an order for 100,000 notebooks for their test-run.
Gotta get me one of these!
as long as if something goes wrong and you need to call tech support, they don't have those walmart greeters answering the call....
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/968577/posts2 d3b7fbf49b6df44390aa6459ab46c88&showtopic=3074 o main.htm
2 91.htm
e =UTF-8&q=walmart+alabama+eminent+domain&btnG=Googl e+Search
http://www.americasdebate.com/forums/index.php?s=
http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/qod/030929.shtml
http://freedom.orlingrabbe.com/lfetimes/eminent_d
http://www.badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff67
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&o
C:\>
"Honey, should we get the name brand HP Notebook, or save a few dollars and get the off brand?"
He who laughs last is at 300 baud.
The RadioShack *I* went to had a C compiler to play with, and I did the same thing you did except in C:
/* check input every 1/10 second*/
#include
void main (void) {
char c=' ';
char s[50000];
initscr();
halfdelay(1);
do {
c = getch();
if (c != ERR)
strncat(s,&c,1);
printf("%s",s);
refresh();
} while (toupper(c) != 'Q');
}
Been tried, failed big time.
This is the idea behind Sun's thin client - essentially going back to the old mainframe days, but with considerably more powerful terminals.
BTW, if you suggest a common computer language that can be used from anything from a cell phone to a server, then MacNealy has some big guys in black leather that would like to discuss your ideas out back.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
My ex-roomate works for just such a company. National company and well know. WalMart fucked them, so they chose to discontinue selling to them. They've not gone out of bussiness, they continue to do very well.
That much? I've heard that OEM licenses for Windows can go as low as 50 cents!
But since we don't have side by side windows/linux offerings of laptops from all the major "manufacturers", we'll never know, will we?
If we did have side by side offerings, any guess whether there would be further price competition, and lower prices for windows boxes?
Only someone who is 1)stupid 2)naive 3)a liar 4)working for microsoft would post that the windows monopoly is only costing $10 to the consumer in any conceivable situation.
More info at the links located in this post.
You ever watch Saturday Night Live with Goatboy and "hey remember the 80's"
Thats about where you were going. Server and dumb terminals just arn't fun. It's easier and cheaper to just have plain boxes around with everything they need. If one breaks no big deal. With the other way one little fuckus can grow quick.
But hey, sell your idea to IBM
Wal-mart has found a notebook they can sell for $14.95 that will be a hit with their target
demographic from Ohio Art.
If you want to see examples of this happening right now, google for 'thin client' or citrix. If you want to see examples of people who have done this for decades, google instead for 'dumb terminal' , '3270' etc.... Server centric computing has been around for years. You can buy a current model thin client for $299 (maybe less) that does not store any data locally, and boots from an image delivered across a network. Load Citrix, or an open source equivalent like LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project) on a server, connect your thin clients to the LAN, and compute away.
\/\/oobie
You may want to read the following article to get a more clear picture of how wal-mart operates. I read the article this morning, and it happens to be very timely.
-- Solaris Central - http://w
Sorry, but you cannot blame the loss of manufacturing jobs on the unions. True, the AFL-CIO was not the most flexible when dealing with Detroit, but there were other, larger pressures, such as competition from overseas mfg. and tax laws the encouraged US businesses to locate across the border. For a good read, see "America: What Went Wrong?" some of which is available online at:
http://www.politicalindex.com/wrong1.htm
Walmart generally doesn't force companies to do anything. They merely say "we want it at this price and these specs, do it or lose it." Companies produce for Walmart because they want/need the additional business, even if they make marginal profits on it. That and the fact that Walmart lowers prices for everyone. Is it anti-competitive to push sustainable lower prices (for walmart) onto the market place?
antitrust
anticompetitive
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
So Wal-Mart rapes their suppliers into taking a bare few percent profit margin. Guess what - I DON'T CARE! I don't have the luxury of being supported by Mommy and Daddy so I can spend my time bitching about how "immoral" and "evil" Wal-Mart is - in fact, I shop there all the time, because saving a buck is the most important end for me; as long as they can provide cheap electronics I don't care how much they pressure their wholesalers.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
There should be a "Funniest Post(s) of the Day" for posts such as this.
The vast vast majority of the illegals were "owned" by a company Wal-Mart outsourced their cleaning to. Anyway, aren't Wal-Mart hating liberals supposed to swallow the line that nobody should be an "illegal" alien because this is the Land of Opportunity and all should be welcome with no restrictions? Just food for thought. (see Cali for a prime example, hell, illegals can get licenses there IIRC)
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Here are your server software licenses, thank you very much. You can even get a license plate.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I really hope Wal-Mart decides to sell notebooks with both Lindows and Windows. It will never be mentioned in the press, but many people would buy the cheaper of the two, then chuck Lindows and replace it with a pirated copy of Windows.
They know that seeing two identical machines side by side in Wal-Mart, people will see how expensive Windows really is.
Non-Windows (Lindows, SuSE, etc) PC's are not really cheaper at Walmart than Windows PC's. Look at equivalent spec machines, and the difference is very, very little. Don't believe me? Look it up. The $200 PC's are 1.2 Duron's. Once you get to 2+GHz machines (Celeron or P4) at ~$4-500, the price difference is nil.
Go look it up.
I'm one of those people who hate wal-mart (and I don't shop there as a result), so I'll comment. I'll grant that wal-mart has demonstrated a lot of innovation when it comes to supply lines and inventory management, but I despise their low price mantra.
As if it wasn't bad enough that the wal-mart chain has destroyed downtown industry all over America in favor of big box stores, if a stateside business can't meet their price point they go with an import. So much for the effort to buy american that Sam Walton pushed when he was alive.
It is estimated that 7.5 cents of every consumer dollar (excepting auto purchases) go through the wal-mart's registers. They have such a dominant position that businesses can't afford not to do business with wal-mart. For many it is a lose-lose proposition.
I think there are many wasteful and incompetent american businesses that need to be put out of their misery, but wal-mart is decimating many a good business. Their impact on the US economy is such that we should question seriously the low price mantra.
-- Solaris Central - http://w
A) If society was unhappy with that situation, they'd avoid shopping there.
B) If someone isn't happy with their pay, they need to upgrade their skills
C) Walmart sells books to accomplish B. Employees could read them during breaks for free.
Do they have any monopoly on anything whatsoever?
Yes, a geographic monopoly in semi-isolated areas, where Wal-Mart is the only store for several miles.
Will I retire or break 10K?
eMacs, which include a Sony 17" totally flat 1280 * 1024 monitor built in that runs $250 seperately, start at $799. And that comes with a Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW a 32 MB ATI Radeon 7500, Firewire ports, a large included suite of software, and many other things that would be expensive add-ons for the $300 Lindows machines.
Of course, if you don't want the better OS, optical drive, included monitor, fast graphics processor, connectivity, etc, then the Mac's a bad deal. Apple's never gone for the low-end market, and the $300 Lindows Microtel machine is low-end. Add on the extra stuff the Mac comes with, even using price-watch prices, and you quickly approach the price of the Mac, and that's for a cobbled together system of third party stuff vs. an engineered, out-of-the-box machine with the best relaibaility record and customer service of any computer manufacturer. (According to Consumer reports, for several years in a row.)
Don't try to make it sound like you're in for $1800 to get a comparable mac, and don't pretend that because lower-end macs come with monitors, that somehow professional Macs are the real alternative to cheap PC's. My guess is that most buyers do end up using a monitor anyway. Get whatever system best suits your needs, and Macs don't come without lots of extras. I haven't seen any computers with similiar extras for much less though.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
Yah, the SunRay systems; they're heavily used at Sun offices/campuses. Cheap too, something like $100 per Sunray. Of course, you need a beefy connection and backend server to push all that stuff out to the users.
;-)
Our office has something like 50 users at any given time and I know the backend is a 6CPU E4500 with like 8GB ram. I never have a problem with latency or program load delay or anything.
I don't think this is practical for a home solution however.
- Kate
"DNA is life. The rest is just translation."
Economies progress by making jobs more efficient so resources are freed for new jobs. You can't make new products unless some old product goes away or becomes more efficiently made.
It's hard to figure out who gets retrained in what way and how much. No system could be perfect. That Wal-Mart makes companies more efficient is not to be denied. That some companies don't adapt and go out of business, well, their workers and capital go into other businesses eventually, and the economy gradually becomes more efficient. If there were no unemployment benefits, the economy would become more efficient faster, but more people would suffer. If unemployment benefits were too easy to get and keep, the economy would progress more slowly. The trick is figuring out the best compromise. No one can ever know where that line is, and it keeps moving.
</LongWindedRamble>
Infuriate left and right
"Dude: You're getting a Walmart!"
If you see a red dot floating around your house, duck. It's Dell enforcing their trademark.
"Derp de derp."
Jesus I forgot how retarded the slashdot crowd really is, OS X was just an example, Linux or the many others would have fit just as well
Carpe meam simiam!
I hope they run XP. Otherwise, it's an expensive proposition. Suddenly a $750 laptop becomes a $950 laptop. I know this isn't going to be a popular comment, but not everybody can or wants to run Linux.
"Derp de derp."
The original poster made valid points about WalMart, an institution that is responsible for widespread labor abuses, social control of its employees, deflating local economies, and spreading the box store culture of underemployment.
this wouldve been more fun, albeit a bit more time intensive, but seeing the look on the epileptic's face when they saw this would be priceless!
c:\>debug
-a
mov ax,a000
mov es,ax
mov ax,0013
int 10
xor dl,dl
xor di,di
mov cx,7d00
mov ah,dl
mov al,dl
rep
stosw
inc dl
jmp 010c
-g
Yeah you may have thought you got away with something. But they had your home phone number!
http://tinyurl.com/3t236
I know they've got some systems that come with Lycoris Desktop/LS installed.
I think I think, therefore I think I am.
Where goes Wal-mart, there follows Amazon..I would imagine we will see the following news item soon, 'Amazon to Offer Amazon Notebooks'.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.htm l
It's not the "Mom and Pop" store thats getting hosed - they can never compete with the Walmarts OR CompUSA's on price.
Since most Americans no longer believe in causality (thank you Mr. Kant and Mr. Hume), feel free to simply ignore this.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
I don't think the word "disgusting" begins to cover your attitude.
Aw, how flattering...I prefer "utterly amoral" myself though, "coldly pragmatic" if you're being very nice =)
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
are you on NT4 with roaming profiles? Perhaps I have my wires crossed, but it seems weird that your domain is administered that way.
As for the SunRay's, yes, they are way, way, cool. I've played with them. Sun's recommendatino is for switched 100Mbit to each sunray though, so Ithink they use the LAN pretty heavily.
parent has a really interesting idea:
"Americans who shop at Wal-Mart are shopping themselves out of a job."
since wal-mart is the largest employer in the us and one the largest retailers (the largest?), their footing is secured.
it is scary to imagine a bleak future:
wherein so many are out of work (as many are now)
and thusly take a position (IT at the local hq, sales, tech support) at the institution of Wal-Mart.
it snowballs and soon not only are they still the largest employer whom most everyone works for,
but they are also the source where most everyone purchases most everything (from food to toiletries, consumer electronics to computers).
while it wont happen (hopefully, right doj?? right??), it is disconcerting and scifi creepy.
What happens if, God forbid, you get hit by a bus, or a drunk driver, or if you were kidnapped by a marauding band of scantily clad amazons? How will your parents manage their new computer? Do they know how to do any administration tasks like installing software, or installing a new printer?
I don't wish this on anybody, but in a previous job, I had to create a "hit by a bus" book, so that other people could do any of the frequent admin tasks that they might need, in case I was ever incapacitated. Now granted, most of these things (new users and backup-recovery) are not needed on a home machine, but if you have to ssh into your parent's box for any reason, then it isn't parent-safe enough.
That being said, I've set my parents up with the most parent-safe setup I can imagine. Yes it cost a bit more than $500, but I know that they won't have to find someone who knows KDE or Gnome, or how to re-compile a kernel when they want to plug in a new digital camera. I got them an iMac, and I never have to deal with administration of their machine. It cost a bit more, but I don't loose sleep over worrying if it is working or not.
-- Len
Why not? From mwhat I have seen it scales down quite well. A dual CPU big ass noisy box in the basement and cheap terminals all around the house ... no problem.
...
Of course, setting things up is not for my grand mother
"Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead." A. Huxley
right you are, and "cheap" is the problem. I would trather have "inexpensive" or 'good value.'
"Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead." A. Huxley
It's actually a race to the bottom. Every year walmart grows and as it grows it squeezes out competitors and ships jobs overseas. If things continue their trend they will have a monopoly in just a few years. What happens then?
I'll tell you what happens jobs leave china and go to cambodia or africa or someplace. They continue to to shift to countries where people are more destitute thereby leading to boom and bust economies all over the world. Eventually the chinese will want a 10 cent raise and the factories will all close up and move.
I predict that one day in the not too distant future some country will enslave an unpopular minority and the services of their slaves to walmart for the cost of subsidence. These slaves will work all day for bread and water making socks and t-shirts with the walmart brand on them.
At that moment we will have achieved maximum efficiency.
The natural tendency in a darwinian economy is a monopoly.
War is necrophilia.
Egads! Aliens, Wal-Martians, an organized plot to dominate earth; good thing someone is sounding the alarm. And to think " I married a monster from outer space " . Little did I realize she was part of a nefarious plot to overthrow man. Now I understand why she is always trying to control everything I do. Good thing I found out about this. I'll just wear my tinfoil pyramid hat to bed. That'll stop her alien Wal-Martian brain beams from doing further damage. Tomorrow we storm Bentonville. Not off topic -- just off planet. ;-)
I didn't desert Windows; Windows deserted me: BSOD
How many generations ago did they immigrate? 3? 4? ... 6? Probably not more than that.
I bet you don't even know.
Did you not notice that America came out of both WWI and WWII stronger than we went in? Why? There is a lot of evidence pointing at the immigrants who came here shortly before and even during these outbreaks.
What have immigrants done for America?
Chinese labor laid much of the tracks for the first transcontinental railroad. German labor worked the Pennsylvania coal mines (my family's heritage). Tesla brought us AC electricity. European WWII engineers founded the US atomic and rocket/space programs.
To this day, many of the brightest professors in US universities were born overseas.
In fact, there are too many major contributions to list, considering that most Americans are not Native Americans (e.g. American Indians).
Breaking that rant to answer your question, shipping immigrants back to Cuba or China or Columbia or any other horribly inhumane repressive government is a great crime to these people, to our country, and to all of humanity. How much harm could these people cause us? Not much. How much benefit could they bring? Everything.
This message brought to you by a classically trained, free-market-loving, death-penalty-supporting, conservative pig.
A computer light enough to place on my particle-board desk (purchased at wallmart) without breaking it!
No, You shut-up!!!!
Where we live, those red dots are the seasonal influx of shelter-seeking ladybugs!
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
1. Read headline "PR Release!"
2. ???
3. +1, Informative.
Might I suggest the following:
"2. Check that the content is informative"?
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Were you hoping that would be funny?
Thank you.
Comments like this, even drowning in mass of drivel about how paying the lowest price possible is "abusing capitalism" are what keep me coming back to this page.
Even Darwin thought evolution was divinely inpired. What you describe is an artificial creation of man. And note, 4 billion years of evolution have not produced what you described. Could there be a reason perhaps? Could it be that hugely efficient things aren't very good at adapting? If you had one species of organism that dominated the entire planet, all it would take is one virus, one shift in climate to wipe it out. Entirely.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
Hey man, don't trash the TRS-80. It's the fastest boooting machine I've ever seen running a Microsoft product.
1 sec boot for the TRS-80 running "Microsoft #1" from ROM vs. 5 minute boot for a Dell running Windows XP. Ah, innovation!
Even though Walmart.com sells Lindows and Lycoris machines, Walmart stores do not. So the odds of them carrying Lindows or Lycoris notebooks is slimmer still.
I have blog like everyone else
Hmm... NT4 acted like THAT? I know Win2K/XP automatically grabs the profile from the server, and does the merging right there. If there are conflicting files, they're taken care of on logoff with a box similar to that that you get when you copy a file to a directory that already has that file.
They use SuSE, too. I'd personally prefer a SuSE laptop, thank you very much... BTW, Lycoris isn't TOO bad for computer newbs, but it looks like it sucks for Windows-proficient users switching to Linux. That's where SuSE fits in.
"A lot of working families are a heck of a lot better off because discount stores like walmart help them stretch their dollars farther"
My own unscientific study shows me that Wal Mart prices are pretty much the same as everywhere else; and in most cases you can get far better prices if you're willing to shop at discount stores.
I'm not anti-walmart; I think they have a decent selection of stuff and have brought that selection to a lot of small towns, but their pricing is nothing to write home about.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
"That some companies don't adapt and go out of business, well, their workers and capital go into other businesses eventually..."
Other businesses like the ones overseas... =p
We did something similar, except it was more like 10 BEEP 20 GOTO 10 (I can't remember the exact syntax for generating a sound) Used to drive the salesman who couldnt figure out how to stop it nuts!
Actually there's evidence that the Waites were here pre-Mayflower, but I shan't harp on that. My father's side of the family came from Poland in the Teens, legally through Ellis Island.
I never said I was opposed to immigration, far from it; believe me, I know this country was and still is being built on the backs of immigrants - but I'd rather not see them treated like slave labor. One of the best examples is their safety - I live on Long Island, where there's a HUGE population of illegal Mexicans used as day laborers. One of the biggest reasons contractors hire them isn't the low low pay, but rather the fact that the contractor can flagrantly violate every OSHA standard at the jobsite, and when one of the laborers is maimed or killed, the GC can simply dump them in the appropriate place (ER front door, Moriches Bay, etc.) and go pick up a new one on the corner the next morning, with no annoying government inspectors swarming the job site. Basically, they're commodities rather than humans. Even more so to they coyotes out West; don't even get me started on the horrors of human smuggling and the rapaciousness of those that charge $3000 a head to sneak Mexicans into the hellish work environs in the US.
Legal immigration is a whole different ballgame. I think it's currently way too difficult to get in above board and get all your work permits and visas; I wholeheartedly support the creation of a "manual labor" class of visa that would be very easy to get and would entitle the day laborers to basic health, safety and wage guidelines, as well as taxing them at a lower rate, for basic health and human services (but no SS or other long-term benefits).
Now...where did I say that immigration is bad in my previous posts? I said ILLEGAL immigration is a Bad Thing, which it is - it endangers the immigrants and bleeds much-needed tax money out of the government. I'm all for the enrichment of the US by people from around the world, I just want them to play by some sort of rules and be accounted for. Of course, those escaping for political reasons should bloody likely be granted asylum, and then given proper paperwork as outlined above. God. When did the world turn so black and white, to where opposing illegal entry==racism?
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
I call bullshit. Last year my son was a full-time college student and a full-time WalMart employee. He made nearly $18,000. You just have to work hard to get ahead. WalMart shouldn't be considered anything more than a temporary job or second income job. That is, unless you plan on a career in management at WalMart (and that's not too hard to do, either).
it's not just a poncho -- it's a SEARS poncho.
In addition, Warren Buffet has claimed that Wal-Mart is soley responsible for keeping down inflation in America.
+1 Funny yes, not +1 Informative
Exclusive picture of the prototype:
Picture
I apologize for attacking you earlier; I misunderstood your position. This misunderstanding sparked my personal peeve against the idea that it is illegal for someone to seek freedom.
Now, to step back onto the soapbox:
Unfortunately, many people do oppose all immigration, and they are often the ones who establish immigration policies. If someone wants to risk their life to leave their country and come here, then let them.
One common example of screwed up INS regulations:
Most foreign college students can't legally work off campus; as a result the non-rich ones either get stuck as cheap labor for housing or the cafeteria - or they get cheated by the restaurant owner they try working for. I've personally seen both happen during my college years.
A nice side effect of legalizing all immigration is that there is then no such thing as an illegal immigrant. This will by definition kill the smuggling trade, and then we can easily prosecute any company abusing any laborers in America. All that's needed is to abolish quotas and a few similar restrictions; the rest of the system seems mostly functional.
laissez faire - the true foundation of capitalism and conservative politics
At our local Walmart everything has Nascar plastered all over it, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a big number 3 on the case of these notebooks.
This sig has no nutritional value...
If you read the history of the original catalog retailers, like Montgomery Wards and Sears, you will find that they were hated when they first started expanding, because they were killing small town stores (that had no competition and could keep prices high). They would organize catalog burnings. Now of course, Sears is struggling and Ward is gone. Things change, especially in retailing.
There are a number of other retailers you could throw in the "once seen as powerful destuctive forces, now pretty much gone" - Woolworth, K-Mart, A&P. All were seen as destroying "mom and pop" stores, and all are pretty much destroyed, or at least not nearly as powerful as they used to be.
Even now, Target seems to be beating the heck out of Wal-Mart. I know tons of people who shop at Target, myself included, while I know no walmart regulars.
So I predict that eventually something will replace walmart, in the same way it replaced a ton of businesses that "nobody could compete with".
I have blog like everyone else
If you support an organization with 1000 people at 20 locations, getting that many CDs burned and out to your staff would be difficult in the case of a critical security fix (where you want your systems updated in minutes instead of days).
Now, use a CDRW instead of a CD, and have the drives in every computer (costs only slightly more than a normal CDROM). Or use USB Flash pendrives. I got a 256 MB at Best Buy for $30! You can push the updates out over the network and just have a small support staff for user created problems (I deleted my files and emptied trash; how do I get them back), hardware issues, and network/server administration.
In any case, with applications being moved to the network I see the computer being a modular cog in the equation. I could be swapped quickly with little or no problems.
Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll wipe out the species.
Bullshit.
Monopolies can only exist as a result of government interference.
"4 billion years of evolution have not produced what you described."
Nonsense. There have been many slave based economies in the past. Slavery has always been a big part of human commerce. Whether it was the ancient greeks and romans or the chinese dynasties or the US itself. Have read any history at all? How can you possibly claim slave labor has not been utilized for commerce?
Eventually slavery was phased out because it was recognized that social darwinism and pure capitalism was extremely bad for a significant minory of the population. More rights based structures like republics were invented and of course more socialist policies like taxes were put into place. By giving minorities rights and by re-circulating money from the rich to the poor we achieved some sort of a balance whereby the slave class was eliminated and the middle class didn't starve enough to want to revolt.
If left to themselves the rich will always become richer and the powerful will always become more powerful. The art of society is to slow down or halt that process so that everybody has a fair shake.
War is necrophilia.
You argue:
The low prices of Walmart represents deflation. Deflation is bad because it can defer purchasing of products.
and
I see many people who obviously are not hurting for money shopping at Walmart. The reason the do so is because they can have more stuff.
You argue that low prices at Walmart cause us to buy too little and too much.
Lower prices as a result of cutting out the friction of commerce are good. What Walmart has done to bring efficienty to trade by eliminating waste and redundancies makes every dollar I earn worth more. That is good. I can buy more things and less overhead with my paycheck. Stuff makes me happy. I like being able to afford 3 new movies to watch instead of 2, 12 pairs of underware instead of 6, more towels etc. If you're offended that things CAN facilitate happiness then that's your problem. Stop being a puritan.
Wow, you are old. But I like your style.
I think I think, therefore I think I am.
So Wal-Mart is destroying the western world by nearly forcing suppliers to outsource and import goods from the land of sweatshops. Solution ? Nuke the land of sweatshops. If you destroy whatever is judged 'inferior' then there is no more comparison to be made and thus the power battle ends.
I don't mean this in a racist or nazi way. We have to eliminate the difference so that there will no longer be an incentive to financially abuse the less-favored societies of the world. Killing is one way, striving towards global unity is another; but as long as there will be GW Bushes, Saddams and Bin Ladens on this planet there will be no world peace and equality, because for every gun you fire, someone else will get pissed and fire back. It's funny that we are taught cooperation and sharing as young children, but the leaders of our world are little more than tired old bullies with bigger gangs.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
The word cheaper was never used...
I've known about Wal-Mart's pressure on it's suppliers for a long time. Chrysler (now Daimler-Chrysler) did it for years -- how many tenths of a cent can they force you to shave off your price in order to keep their business.
If I were in the position of selling to Wal-Mart, and they came to me and said "You know, you sold us this item last year for $8.73. This year we won't pay more than $8.11 for it." And if that new price was below my cost -- there's just no way I can sell that item to them and stay in business. What am I going to do? Make it up on volume? At that point I've no alternative but to tell them to go buy their widgets elsewhere and lay off part (maybe most of) my workforce.
Yes, it's capitalism in action. I accept that.
But at the same time these kinds of tactics leave a bad taste in my mouth. As a result, I haven't shopped at Wal-Mart in two years (I'm going to Target instead), and dropped my Sam's Club membership in favor of BJ's Wholesale.
Chip H.
Offtopic perhaps, but you can hardly blame Wal-Mart for taking advantage of government power. The "right" to invoke force as a means to an end belongs to government, not Wal-Mart. Government holds the key.
The problem is that power exists, not that power can be abused. It is inevitable that power will be abused, and here we are looking at a textbook example.
sure at one time laptops where fashion accessories. Haven't been for years though. Salesmen, and onsite techs have no other way to get a computer, yet they need to enter orders. Even when you are just at the office laptops are handy. Nothing makes meeting minutes more accurate, or more useful than to have them in your inbox before you get back to your cube. (Though I only know one guy who was that quick, it was appreceated)
I remember when cell phones were a fashion accesory. Salesmen soon changed that becuase they were useful, and today they are essential. When the 486 was king many people were already going to laptop as the main comptuer, because it isn't that much more, and was useful when (not if) you travel. Travel includes going home at night when you work tech support. (most nights you didn't get a call)
Sure, compare walmart to anyone else... The McDonalds was given the land they sit on, when the city bought the orchard that was there and gave it to someone who would pay [more] taxes. WalMart wanted in, and got a few things (mostly land to build on). Latter Target wanted in, but wanted what walmart got, plus a stoplight where one was not needed. Then the city decied they wanted more industry, so they bought a lot of land and basicly gave it away. (for the taxes they will collect latter, I have no idea if it works) Everyone does it in other words.
Several years ago WalMart wanted to upgrade to a super WalMart. It was blocked for several years, by the "small" grocer that bought a Cub franchise (he had a super market before, but Cub is about 3 times the size) to drive out the other small grocers and didn't want to compete someone who could compete with him.
Google has a cache , but this has been down a while - makes you wonder if they've gone TU.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
You're right - setting it up would be difficult for non-technies, but with a DSL/Cable connection, the ISP could offer this functionality very easily.
:). The ISP could provide SAMBA shares to save files locally. Also, there would be no bandwidth charges between the ISP and the customer, so they could use the off-peak time to download large files.
The ISP could run multiple in-memory XSessions with OpenOffice + Mozilla + Mail on a cluster of powerful servers. The subscriber buys a $200 basic machine, and gets an AOL-type setup CD from the ISP. This CD sets up an XServer on the subscribers machine (this connects to the ISPs servers), and installs icons for email, office, etc. etc. on their taskbar.
The moment the subscriber clicks on, say, the email icon, a connection is made to their cached XSession on the ISP's cluster, a local window opens, and they are reading emails 200 milliseconds after their mouseclick. Because the XSession is cached in-memory on the ISPs server, and the subscriber's emails are *also* on the ISPs server, this would be faster than an email app running from local disk (provided the network is OK
So the subscriber gets:
1. A properly configured environment
2. *Speed* (no delays fetching mail, no rendering delays, no "slow-OpenOffice-startup" delays
3. Back-ups of all documents, all emails
4. Ability to access this setup from net cafes (using Java applets + VNC)
5. Working in a familiar home environment (Windows, Linux, OSX... whatever supports an XServer).
The ISP gets:
1. Lower bandwidth utilization (because the ISP controls the browser, they can optimize it with caching proxies)
2. Possible media-plays (since the ISP *partially* controls the subscribers machine - because their software runs on it - they could, say, schedule downloads of say, news programs that are tailored to the subscribers interests)
3. Fewer tech support hassles ("Just put the CD in your CD-drive and press 'OK' Ma'am")
4. Happier customers
5. More "stickiness" with the customer
6. Profit!!!
Mart is not efficiency, it is a slow starvation. In much the same way a person who keeps getting thinner and thinner because they don't get enough to eat. Eventually they do, but every says its OK because the Market says so. BS! Cheaper prices to strangle the economy so that you can make a buck is not making a strong economy, it is makes the US a weaker one. All of its investments are moved from the US and moved to China.
It does not help anyone to move ALL of those jobs over to China, someone here has still got to work and earn some cash too.
ahh, a little civility in this whole debate - thank you sir, you're a rare breed...apology accepted, and let me apologize for being snippy with my reply.
I'm not a huge fan of totally unrestricted immigration though; I hate to raise the specter/strawman of terrorism, but I do get a very uneasy feeling at the concept of letting anybody waltz into the DMV and get a license without having to even prove legal status - IMHO, that's a security hole big enough to drive a nuke-bearing truck through.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
and look at the ads for circuit city, best buy, compusa, office depot, office max, etc. I see notebooks for $699-$799 every week, sometimes $650, and once, $550. Hell, go to dell.com/tv--they've got a $799 notebook right now and every day. 2.4G celeron, 256 MB, 14" screen, combo drive. Or go to store.apple.com and click the red 'special deals' tag. stock varies but they've currently got G3 iBooks for $799.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
(READ THIS ARTICLE AND DRAW YOUR CONCLUSIONS)
PAGE ONE
NO COMPETITION?
China's Rush to Convenience
11/03/03
Page One: Competition in China Erodes Profit Margins
10/13/03
Heard in Asia: Chinese Market May Become Tough Going for Global Firms
06/17/03
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)
PRICE
CHANGE
U.S. dollars 57.96
-0.32
11/12
Behind China's Export Boom,
Heated Battle Among Factories
As Wal-Mart, Others Demand
Lowest Prices, Managers
Scramble to Slash Costs
By PETER WONACOTT
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
SHAJING, China -- Under the corrugated-metal roofs of Ching Hai Electric Works Co., hundreds of workers toil in six plants to meet orders for millions of small appliances. Inside one factory, ex-farmers bend over a clanging conveyer belt where they turn squid-shaped hunks of steel and wiring into electric fans. The fans cost about $4 wholesale and eventually will retail in the U.S. for $15 to $40 through such online stores as Amazon.com.
This is the kind of picture U.S. politicians might conjure up when tapping the hot-button issue of American jobs lost to the flood of Chinese exports. But China's smaller manufacturers themselves face brutal new competition right at home.
China, one of the world's busiest factory floors, increasingly suffers from a production glut, and the big overseas retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that soak up China's exports have been quick to capitalize. They're demanding rock-bottom prices and forcing factory bosses to cut costs any way they can in order to remain in contention for export orders. The average wholesale price for Ching Hai's fans, juicers and toasters has tumbled to $4 from $7 a decade ago, according to company executives.
It's the survival of the cheapest. At Ching Hai, manager David Liu has cut his labor force in half, to 1,500 workers, even while maintaining the same level of orders. The company's starting salary of about $32 a month is some 40% less than the local minimum wage. Many workers put in 18-hour days with minimal training and constant pressure to boost output. Despite the cost cutting, Mr. Liu says Ching Hai is just barely profitable, although he declines to provide any figures.
"I had no gray hair before I came," says the 41-year-old Mr. Liu, running a hand over a salt-and-pepper brush cut. "Profits now are too tough."
The relentless cost cutting raises questions about how much pressure retailers should exert in places where unemployment and weak labor laws are problems. Ching Hai, which has a high rate of accidents mostly involving fingers severed by machinery, has been investigated by the local labor bureau for possible violations. The company defends its safety record and says some accident claims may be bogus.
The lure of low production costs has been attracting new plants to China from around Asia for the past decade. In recent years, easy credit and expanding know-how in China have caused the number of local manufacturing operations to mushroom. The trade liberalization undertaken since China's entry into the World Trade Organization two years ago drew another raft of foreign manufacturers. Shajing alone, a city of 600,000, boasts about 1,200 factories.
Buyers are moving aggressively to play one factory against another. "As things get more competitive, the pressure that comes along with that, yeah, we try to take advantage of it," says Gary Meyers, a vice president in global procurement at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart expects to buy $15 billion of goods in China this year, after purchasing about $12 billion last year, or about 8% of all the goods it bought in 2002. Overseas retailers bought a total of $30 billion in goods from China in 2001, according to the most recent government estimates.
The son of two textile workers in Taiwan, Mr. Liu was the first in his family to break into the ranks of management after he joined Ching Hai's Taiwan headquarters. Then, a decade ago, Ch
from walmart.com Note: Linux operating systems may not be compatible with some dial-up Internet services, such as AOL or Wal-Mart Connect. funny, isn'it?
I'd love for someone to create a laptop infrastructure of plug in components. Let's face it, a well used laptop will die because it leads a much tougher life than a desktop - at least they do for me!
...er.. envelope. Change the VGA to a DVI interface so that LCD->Vid is not proprietary and voila! A mostly upgradeable laptop.
But it's near impossible (or financially infeasible) to replace a dead motherboard or LCD. Most of the pieces are in place. Something like a mini-itx motherboard is about the right size for the bulk of it. Use a standard voltage input. A standard LCD
Now one of these would get my $$$. That said, I'll probably pony up for a cheap laptop or a used one w/o the aforementioned wishlist in the near future.
Many posters have commented on Walmart's aggressive pricing policies, and the stranglehold that they have on vendor pricing. For example, Walmart routinely "rolls back prices", expecting their suppliers to take the loss. Because they have so many stores, it's hard for a supplier to say no to Walmart. Some have said no to Walmart, only to find Walmart producing it's own brand of their product, and putting them out of business. Walmart has experience taking over industries.
So now that Walmart is turning its attention to the PC market, how long will it be before Walmart starts carrying Microsoft products? Will Microsoft be able to say no when Walmart wants to do a price rollback? Will we see a "rollback" sign above $49 copies of Office?
Even though Microsoft has a monopoly on the OS market, they can't afford to shut out a giant like Walmart. And Microsoft knows that if they don't play ball, Walmart will produce their own OS, market it, and put Microsoft out of business. Yes, Microsoft is big, but Walmart:
- Has experience taking over entire industries,
- Has a marketing presence worldwide,
- Has a marketing and advertising budget that Microsoft could only dream of.
Walmart has $100 billion in annual revenue (compare with Microsoft's $16 billion in assets).While I don't like Walmart's monopolization of retail, this is one case in which the free market could very well correct the abuses of Microsoft.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
I want cheap Xterms connected by ethernet to my FT cluster.
SunRays are basically this. However, I don't think anyone can expect zero-user downtime (if your spreadsheet is stored in a RAM module that blows, it's just gone, unless their is mirrored RAM or something).
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Mirrored everything, Stratus do this with their fault tolerant kit and have done since the mid 80s. Zero downtime baby, we can dream, but I want the same reliability I have from my phone. Computers should just work damn it.
No no no, not notebook.exe (notepad.exe?) -- change it to progman.exe The old Windows3.1 Program Manager is still there and works dandy.
--
heh yeah notepad... its been awhile. At least i didnt write 'vi' :)
I can't speak for the rest of the world, but I know we don't have Walmarts here in Australia. Now sad to say guys, while they MIGHT dominate the United States (and Canada, and whereever else they may be) that's still not the whole world. When I see Walmart stores opening in Australia then I will start to get worried. (Although I don't see Coles/Myer or Woolworths letting them get a foot in the door to begin with).