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Earthlink Sponsors Cheap Linux PCs
prostoalex writes "Earthlink and Microtel are offering cheap Xandros-based computers to anyone who's willing to sign up for Earthlink dial-up service at $22 a month. The desktops on Microtel Web site start at $70 for a basic AMD Sempron machine, Microtel laptops start at $399. ExtremeTech says there is also a SkypeOut gift certificate: 'All Xandros PCs and laptops include free Skype-to-Skype calling worldwide, plus an exclusive bonus voucher for up to 120 minutes of SkypeOut calling to any phone number in the world.'"
I'm glad that more companies are starting to pick up on cheap hardware combined with free software. This will be great for the "moms and pops" who don't care about what they use as long as it works. By offering lots of cheap (with specific hardware) companies can reduce costs for support since there arn't options. It's undercutting the competition just like Ford did, you can have "any color you want, as long as its black". Looking at the specs on the system they don't seem that bad, comparable to a deal Frys had a few weekends ago where you could pick up a full system for $100 (Sempron, CD-Rom, Harddrive, case etc). Some ram upgrade and those machines would probably be plenty for most users.
Well, at least it's running Linux. Because on dialup, it'd probably take at least 12 months to download the patches to secure XP.
If you've got $21.95/month for dialup, but don't have an extra $2-4/month for DSL from your phone provider (or $20/month from your cable provider), you've got no business spending $333.39 ($69.99 + 12 * 21.95) or "$69.99" for a low-end PC with no monitor.
Use $300 to buy a year's worth of broadband, and with the remaining cash, support your nearest surplus store ($50) or computer recycler ($10), garage sale ($50), or even lighten the load on your apartment's dumpster ($0.00).
Didn't PeoplePC try and fail at this just a few years ago? I don't remember if they were using Windows on the boxes, but the business model of dial-up and "free" computers didn't pan out then. What has changed?
It's a little unnerving when I view their website and realize they stole their "Customize It" buttons from Dell.
I've had a lot of seat-time with Xandros (Corel Linux) and have been pretty impressed with its abilities out-of-the-box. It's got a decent debian style package builder, which isn't completely reliable with rpms straight-through, but works well with deb packages. 3.0.1 OC runs KDE 3.3, which isn't my cup of tea (wmaker) but works well for those used to a pure GUI environment. It lends its flexibility quite well for those who are used to a *nix environment, as it builds source just like any other, but has the easiest install program this side of Mandr(ake/iva), and it all fits on one CD to keep costs low for a machine as one would only need a CD-ROM drive. My biggest gripe is that the CUPS network printing tool is pretty craptacular, as it takes some screwing around to make it not just find but print to the network printers, but Samba seems to be right at home. Overall, it's probably one of the better Linux standalone operating systems that Grandma Smith could probably handle installing and using on a daily basis. It's no OS X, but isn't a Gentoo bitchfest.
-Yim