Google PC to Hit Walmart?

Fahrvergnuugen writes "According to latimes.com Google is set to launch the Google PC which will run Google's own operating system. From the article: 'Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap -- perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.'"

Comments

Re:Low cost?

[Kadin2048]

Most people I know would gladly pay a few hundred dollars extra to not use Windows, if they had a real alternative.

However there's usually always some Catch-22 that keeps [Linux flavor of the week] from working out. The biggest one I've seen with home users is that they have pirated Windows applications that they're absolutely wed to, and can't afford to either not use, or buy a replacement for on another platform.

The number of people who actually use Windows because they enjoy it and think it's a good OS is quite small, I think. The public has a pretty negative perception of it in general, because of viruses and spyware; even non-technical business-people hate how it drives the hardware upgrade cycle so aggressively every few years. However Windows is a difficult thing to cut out, and it only takes one obscure productivity app to lock people in.

Windows exists and maintains its marketshare because of an equation that balances user dislike for it against the perceived pain of changing to anything else. Currently that perceived pain and expense greatly outweighs the annoyance Windows provides.

Re:This seems very valid!

[Wonderkid]

Agreed.