Slashdot Mirror
Free IBM Computers For UK Households
Albanach writes "The Scotland on Sunday newspaper is reporting that UK firm Metronomy are offering 200,000 IBM PCs free of charge to UK households. Of course, there is a catch - advertising. Accepting the terms and conditions will get users a free IBM PC running Windows XP, but they will also be required to watch three minutes of TV style advertising for every hour of computer use and undertake to use the PC for a minimum of 30 hours per month."
There don't appear to be any technological barriers to just accepting the PC and reintalling the OS with something sane. Contractually, however, you're agreeing to watch the ads, so if you're not doing so, I suspect they'll just come and take the PC back. Also note that the PC remains the property of Metronomy, and is loaned to the end user for a 3 year period, thus they're well within their rights to just end the loan period early.
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
You're probably thinking of PeoplePC.
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
IBM Thinkcentre 411 inc vat
You just need to look at IBM's own website to realise that a same spec PC is 411inc vat - nowhere near the 800 this news article is claiming it's worth!!
On the web site it gives you the minimum specs as:-
Intel Celeron 2.4ghz
256Mb RAM
40Gb Hard Drive
Intel Extreme 64Mb onboard Graphics
DVD Rom
56K modem
Integrated Audio
Infinity Ext Speakers
Microsoft XP Home pre-installed
IBM E54 15" CRT Monitor
Includes Full 3 year IBM warranty
the inquirer has the specs
Free PCs, but not a free lunch: "Free-PC.com of Pasadena, California, plans to give away 10,000 Compaq ".
You would have thought so... but here are their TOC:
The following 5 key terms and conditions are for your guidance only, and do not constitute a legally binding agreement. Before delivery, you will be required to complete a written agreement, either by post or online.
1) On screen advertising: In exchange for your free PC, you must accept up to 3 minutes of on-screen advertising per hour of PC use. Every month, you will receive a cd containing adverts to be shown over the following four weeks. Each disc must be loaded onto your PC for the system to update. Should you fail to do this, your PC will be disabled.
2) The PC is lent to you for a term of 36 months, after which you will be offered a new computer and a new agreement, or you can simply return the old machine to a local collection point.
3) Your household must use the PC for at least 30hrs per calender month, or approximately 1 hour a day.
4) The PC must be connected to the internet at least once a month, and you must maintain an ISP dial-up account throughout the term of the agreement.
5) The principle applicant should be 18 or over, and provide a home telephone number. We will conduct a security check linking you to the address given. Under certain circumstances, you may be requested to provide alternative proof of ID. This offer is restricted to one PC per household.
If you accept these terms and conditions and consider yourself eligible, then please click on the 'Order your free PC' button to the left of your screen, and complete the short application form.
I don't see anything limiting me to installing my own OS. Sure, I'll copy over their monthly CD. It'll do nothing to my Gentoo install but so what?
I'm on broadband (aren't we all?) so I can prove that I've been on el Net for more than 30 hours a month.
Free Gamer - Free games list and commentary
I know you're just trolling but I'll bite anyway as someone has modded you insightful.
FYI:
Unemployment in the UK currently stands at 5%, compared with 6% in the US and 10.5% in Germany which puts the lie to your 'everyone is on welfare ' claim. BTW, Brits don't say 'welfare', it's call the dole which makes me suspect your claim to be British.
Inflation is at 2.6% compared with the US at 2% and Germany at 1.2%, however wages have increased 3.6% whicg puts the lie to your 'no-one has any money' claim.
And finally, the UK is running a budget deficit of 1.9% of GDP compared to Germany at 3.7% and the US at 4.6% (and Japan 7.7%). Not great, but better than most.
On the whole, the UK has ridden the downturn better than most countries.
Anecdotally, I used to work for a US s/w firm in the UK - when the firm folded with the tech crash, every single UK employee had no problem finding other work - to this day many employees in the US are still unemployed or at least under-employed.
Cheers,
Nick
PS All figures are from the Economist indicators section for November 22nd-28th 2003.
Err, are you *sure* you're from 'round here? The economy is in pretty good shape actually; better than most of Europe, lower unemployment etc. Sure, manufacturing's not doing too well, but in general things've held up a lot better here than on the continent over the last 4 years.
I do however agree that the avertising is completely worthless, and this thing's going nowhere - people just don't like having to do things like take ad-breaks...
-CHris
Comment removed based on user account deletion
In much the same way that they get TV shows in return for those shows being periodically interrupted by advertisements.
I paid for my TV set, I paid for my Satelite decoder. I pay a monthly subscription to recieve digital television broadcasts, I pay for terrestrial TV license (Yes, I live in the UK), Yet i still get adverts.
However as I own a TiVo, I never actually watch them.
Yeah, but in the UK local calls are not free. So these 'free' isps cut a deal with BT and get a share of the phone call.
- PS. This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R where eliminated.
Or the defenders of the "free"internet
If your principle product is something that forms part of many people's non-disposable income spend (e.g. soap powder, basic food stuffs &c) then getting them to spend that part of their income on your products rather than on you competitor's can be worth quite a bit. Also I wouldn't be suprised if the adverts turned out to include ads for products which are restricted in the sort of advertising they can use (e.g. cigarettes).
On the lenders front, I take it that you're in the US. Here in the UK bankruptcy is a lot harder to file, doesn't give you as much protection from your creditors and has much more far reaching effects; hence you're less likely to get people taking out loans then filing for bankruptcy when the first payment is due. Also, as I understand it, the level of owner-occupier property ownership is much higher here in the UK so loans secured on property are much more common. The lenders I'm refering to typically offer long repayment periods at high interest rates to people who are struggling with their exisitng credit commitments, so people go from paying 600 pounds a month over 5 years to 200 pounds a month over 25 years. Of course the lender only really talks about the lower monthly repayments. Another common package is to lend small amounts over short periods at very high interest rates. There's one lender who specialise in small loans in the run up to Christmas paid back weekly over 6 months at rates of 40%+ where the repayments are collected by someone physically coming to your door. Miss a couple of payments and the next visit they come with bailiffs to clear your house out.
Stephen
"Don't write down to your readers, the only people less intelligent than you can't read" - Sign on Newspaper Office Wall