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Linux PCs Discontinued at Wal-Mart Stores
eldavojohn writes "The $200 Linux PCs discussed earlier last year have been discontinued for sale at Wal-Mart's physical locations, though they will remain for sale at walmart.com. All this despite the systems repeatedly selling out. From the article, 'Paul Kim, brand manager for Everex, said selling the gPC online was "significantly more effective" than selling it in stores.'"
the secret Microsoft committee has prevailed. You didn't know of them? Of course you didn't, they don't exist. shhhh.
There's no reason you need to buy a "Linux PC". It's not like there's some logo organization that is in charge of approving "Linux-capable" PCs like there is for Vista.
Just go get the cheapest Windows PC you can find (they have a sticker that says "Vista Capable" or "Vista Ready") and install Linux. It's cheaper than buying a dedicated Linux machine.
I wonder how much Microsoft paid Walmart to stop selling these?
So essentially, it's more efficient (cheaper) to save on the transportation to the stores since they don't stay there very long. :)
Don't Walmart bring products in and out all the time, I fail to see the "omg linux failure" here..
If you want to avoid the microsoft tax then you either have to find an ultra small white box builder or you can buy a "linux box". Getting the Linux box means that at least most of the software was supported on some distribution. I mean it's not like most of us wouldn't reinstall anyway.
I see were you are going with that now, replace the word "effective" with "profitable"
They were selling out and making Dor Mart $201 in profit for each $200 machine sold, but Mikro$loth offered to pay Dor Mart $201.01 per machine that would otherwise be sold in order to prevent their sale and the further distribution of Linux, so Dor Mart went for it. Another penny per unit is significant, since it stands to increase their billion dollar profits by about five bucks in the next quarter. Hey, five bucks could be the difference between making your earnings target and getting that fat promotion, and missing it by $4.99 and, well, not.
In any case, I think part of the problem is that most people I know wouldn't envision Wal-Mart as a PC retailer. Be it my computer-illiterate neighbor whose spyware I'm constantly removing or my grandparents who only use their computer for occasional e-mail, I'd bet the majority would go to an electronics store like Best Buy or Circuit City over a general retailer like Wal-Mart for a purchase that big. Wal-Mart may not be a bad place for cheap groceries or clothing, but the employees there won't know jack about the computers they're selling...and even if that's also true at the local electronics chain store, the perception that they know at least something about computers can make all the difference.
Goo goo g'joob.
They sold out quickly, and in fact I never saw one in a store (I'm not at Walmart often, but I called about the computers on multiple occasions). Hardly sounds like failure.
I can tell you that if Wal*Mart pulled the product, it was because of very frequent returns. (And ANGRY ones at that) The people that bought these computers were going for price alone. I believe that some folks look at a computer as nothing more than an appliance, as hard as that may be to grasp for some techies. They have some sense that they are probably not getting the best computer in the world for that price, but simply that there is a box labeled 'multimedia pc' and is within their price range is reason enough to turn off their critical thinking and make an impluse buy.
Some people that called had 'discovered' that the computer was not running windows, and when informed of the difference, they were willing learn. Others 'discovered' that they had been 'duped' (even though the box is clearly labeled) and were calling to confirm their mistake with the intention of returning it if we could not give them a copy of windows (fat chance).
I for one inferred due to various facts that Wal*Mart employees at many locations were upset in general about the amount of returns on our gPC. Also, inre other comments, it is laughable that a W*Mart employee would know or care about any products there. The computers, gPC or not, were tossed onto a display by overworked/underpaid people and left there. If they made their way out the door even missing parts, W*Mart pretty much expected Everex to replace them. Returned products, gPC and otherwise, were almost without fail (from our perspective) not processed in any way and put on the shelf without even a system restore being done. All employees I dealt with were no more aware of even how they would wipe a system if they cared to... (The inevitable call when it was resold was very common.) Who could blame them? Have you read how Wal*Mart does business/treats employees?
I can tell you that although cheap, it was not the Everex product. This failure was entirely on Wal*Mart. It was their fault because they are not a value-added retailer! Even the apalling service at Best Buy or some other place (where they train employees to be manipulative, at least they TRAIN them!) would lead to fewer returns and more success.
This would be GREAT news if i still answered the phone for these folks.
The "repeatedly sold out" link is a little misleading, too. It isn't exactly a solid list of endorsements -- well, it seems a lot of people bought it and then promptly returned to the website to bitch it didn't come with Windows. In short: it flopped.
I do have to wonder -- and this will certainly invite some livid replies -- solid engineering is great, but I always seem to get the sense that solid marketing and solid sales practices aren't valued in the same way by the F/OSS community, and if it doesn't fail to gain them any ground, it might actually hurt them, as well. I mean, that stuff doesn't have value because people like wasting money. Packaging and naming and charm and all of that has value. WTF is a gOS?
you should be modded up into the stratosphere.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
This just goes to show that communism doesn't work. Money talks. Bullshit walks.
It may be because they don't want the average Walmart employee having to sell / support Linux. We don't have any Walmarts here, but what are they like with Windows? Could they handle Linux and the type of people who buy the 'cheap' computer and then can't install their 'borrowed' copy of Office / Madden / Whatever.
As an aside, I went and bought myself an eee PC. The sales guy was clumsily trying to explain that it didn't run Windows. He seemed relieved when I told him I knew it ran Linux and it wasn't a problem.
that should be marked 'funny', not interesting
Anyone who buys a $200 PC is C-H-E-A-P, and of course uses Linux. It goes hand in hand. Cheap. Linux. 3rd world. Linux. Dirt road. Linux. Shoes optional. Linux. Clothing optional. Linux.
Did microsoft have anything to do with this?
In am not a fan of conspiracy theories, but have we forgotten how Microsoft became a monopoly in the first place? It bullied all its retailers to drop alternatives. On the surface this is exactly the type of press that the consumers were fed. Yet at the end of the day, no one was left standing but Microsoft, and only then did we start asking the right questions and figured out how it happened. By then it was too late.
There are many "possible" reasons why the Linux box was dropped, and some are more convincing than others. But the bottomline is, they simply aren't telling us the sales figures, aren't revealing that there were any increases in support costs, that returns were a problem, or that Microsoft had nothing to do with it.
All we know is that they dropped Linux, that they are a huge Windows retailer, and that some MS rep near Walmart headquarters has them on speed dial.
Everyone seems to be blaming Walmart's management or Microsoft for the decision that the gPC isn't worth selling in stores.
A while back, there was a slashdot-linked PC Magazin review of that box - and it didn't do so well. Granted, the review might have been a little biased, but not enough to dismiss it entirely.
I imagine that might be a big part of why they're not sold in stores anymore.
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
Of course, to be fair with all OSes, they do not sell computers anymore in stores... Of course, they sell *all* their computers online... And indeed, GNU/Linux OSes exposure in store was not "efficient", let them be sold only online. I hope I'm right... but, I really don't know why, something tells me it's not that simple...
someone who has the knowledge of online shopping sure can appreciate linux pc so online shopping is the way to go !
Chris ,
Php Programmers.
It isn't about customer service. The most valuable asset in the physical store is shelf space. The profit margin on these cannot be that much, let alone to the profits to be made filling shelves with more game cartridges.
Remember back to the stories about Wal-Mart's push into CFLs and how the person at Wal-Mart pushing these had to make a case to get shelf space. They had to present a case and prove themselves.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
From the specs, and the reviews I've read, it was a lousy computer. When you put Linux on a lousy computer, you have...a lousy computer with Linux it.
I don't understand why so many in the Linux community were pleased by this. Having Linux associated with low-end machines that people buy because they can't afford what the really want does not help Linux. We shouldn't be promoting Linux as the OS for those who have to settle for less.
It has Linux and was sold as a toy for $199:
http://www.aware.com.tw/about.php
Specs are pretty low and I have the feeling there is no battery..
The only place where I can find it being mentioned by someone who really saw it is in an IRC log of #kubuntu
I found it while I was searching for the manufacturer of the recently announced Elonex notebook.
The domain of Aware Electronics is registered to the manufacturer of the CPU in the Elonex one.
The "Linare" linux distro on it did NOT include gcc (or any compiler), the only drivers for its modem and NIC were partial source for WINDOWS drivers. Their tech support was one guy who was obviously NOT in the US. He had to "call his supervisor" cuz he didn't know what Linux was or why windows drivers wouldn't work with it. After several phone calls, he email me a broken rpm file. I loaded Knoppix, got it working fine and overwrote "Linare". A coupla months later, the power caps popcorned.
Pavlov wouldn't be so famous if he'd used a can opener instead of a bell.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614
Not Sold Online.
Huh?
Did Walmart really want to sell the Linux PCs in the first place? If they did, then why were the Linux PCs so hard to find at Walmarts?
If a Vista PC costs $278, then I would not there is much difference in profit margin.
Maybe the offline PCs were selling out, but not fast enough? This may be a slow time of year for PC sales.
Having a Wal-Mart as the ONLY place for electronics in my town, and having even worked there at one point in my life, I must say I think a lot of people on here must never have been to one. For starters, there is no "support" or training at Wal-Mart. Stuff comes in on a pallet, they set it in the floor in the middle of the night, and someone stocks the shelf. If you are lucky enough to find an employee in the day time, about the best you will get from them is where the product is located. That is how they keep prices low. There is no support or training. From time to time, you will find someone in electronics that knows a little something, as I even worked in electronics from time to time...but let me assure you, they don't go out of the way for that to happen.
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
Why am I not surprised?
Selling Linux to the common people is much like selling healthy food
to same. If it's not drenched in grease and salt the common Joe won't
touch it or even consider it. Such fine delicacy is well beyond his
ability to comprehend.
Linux, I am not sorry to say, is only for the elite. All those who
actively use Linux -- and not just as a curious system that is second
to their main MS Windows machine -- should be very proud of their
advanced states of mind.
Linux will *never* be popular. That was never even its original
intention.
If Walmart decided to discontinue it because of the lack of demand, that's fair game.
I'd agree, if that's really what's going on. But if Wal-Mart sold out of the units in all their stores, what metrics are they using to justify a lack of demand? Returns? Rain checks? Or Microsoft offering them a deal they can't refuse to discontinue selling them?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Games come on cartridges? Are these the same kind of cartridges you put in your inkjet printer? What do you do if your game runs out of ink?
...not sure how walmart handles these, but although they take up a lot of shelf space on the shelves in the stores, they tend to be vacuum-packed and sealed on the shelves in storage. All the shelf-stocker staff has to do is rip a sticker off to let air in and vavoom.. fluffy pillow/comforter.
And yes, this is indeed very similar to those annoying home-shopping commercials where you can actually buy bags that work much the same where you stick your own vacuum cleaner on top of some manner of valve.
I've long wanted to convert my firewall systems to something Via based, partly for their low power consumption, partly for the Padlock crypto engine. It's only recently that Via boards have hit price points appropriate to their performance levels. The premium associated with a specialty board always canceled out the lower cost of the chips it contained.
The existing via is much like a 1.5GHz 486 with a handful of special purpose accelerators. The upcoming Isaiah (one source suggests availability June 2008) should finally kick via up into the 1.5GHz PIII range, at which point, for many purposes, performance is no longer a limiting factor. The rumour is that this new Via offers twice the performance/watt in a drop-in, pin-compatible package.
At long last, these low-end carcasses are becoming quite the interesting niche.
Of course it is more effective to sell online - than WHEN YOU NEVER HAVE ANY STOCK IN THE STORE. I went into several area Walmarts, just to see what the hype was all about - and never got to see any Linux box.
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?
"...because I was too lazy to buy online..."
Damn, I don't even know how I could make a better joke than you did already.
I have this computer. It's not lousy at all.
I've built machines with 16 cores, 40GB of RAM and scores of U320 drives. You know what? Those machines don't browse the Internet, send email or load office programs any faster than the $200 gPC you can get at Walmart. They do however sound like a blow drier on high, which might distract my kids while they're doing their homework.
They're tools. Use the right tool for the job.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
I have yet to see anyone post actual numbers for gPC sales through Walmart - a "sell out" tells me nothing if I don't know how many items you had for sale.
But this wouldn't be the first time, or the second, that OEM Linux has tanked at Walmart. Walmart has tried every incarnation of OEM Linux known to man and not one has gone the distance.
The failure of the $200 PC at Walmart is telling.
It is another black mark for the "web appliance." It suggests that the low-income buyer can't afford a PC at any price - or that they are paying garage sale prices for the older but still capable Windows PC.
It suggests that the middle class buyer, the non-technical user, doesn't trust the bottom-feeder - and let's be clear about this, it is Linux and not Vista Basic that is identified with the deep-discount no-name PC.
The PC with the Linux distro unfamiliar even to the Geek.
The PC tha ships without a functional modem. The PC that is sold without a matching printer.
I point you to this comment, http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=483066&cid=22712872, which supports the notion that people were returning these machines in droves, which is what caused WalMart to discontinue them.
You won't be replacing Vista, you will be dual-booting, You will be buying a machine with extended service and support. You will getting OEM Windows and Linux for the price of a single pair of ink jet cartridges.
You can be playing iTunes. Fallout. System Shock 2.
Connect the dots. It's very likely that Linux was dropped from retail stores because it was successful, not because it was a failure. Wal-Mart was one of the few companies to go on the record in favor of Microsoft's patent pact with Novell. Wal-Mart never goes on the record for IT purchases. There's clearly a very chummy relationship between Wal-Mart and Microsoft at the most senior levels. I'd say it was news of Linux's success that prompted Microsoft to pressure Wal-Mart on this issue, not Linux's failure to sell.
The average Wal-Mart customer is just lookign for the cheapest deal available. When they see a $199 PC, they will get it without wondering if I runs/comes with Windows. That would be like asking if a TV had a US power outlet connector. It doesn't even cross their minds.
As you can guess, they would get it home and it doesn't look like the Windows they know from work and their old computer. To top that, they can't install Quicken, Civ II, or any other software they bought at the SAME Wal-Mart. I would think that would prompt a lot of returns to show back up at the store.
And regards to many comments about how Wal-Mart doesn't want its staff stuck supporting Linux, do you at all feel they are currently able to support Windows in any capacity?
Ninjas don't carry tic tacs
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Wait, how could you shop online to buy a computer if you didn't have one in the first place? chicken and egg!?!?
aaaaahhh *head explodes*
Hi, I Boris. Hear fix bear, yes?
What with their room temperature IQ's, hangovers and general apathy and language barriers. They can barely sweep the bar code over the scanner so asking them what's the difference between Linux and Winderz is a waste of time.
Grandparent is exactly right. It's time for a brief lesson in big-box retail.
1. Profit is measured in square feet. If something is more profitable to Walmart than an Everex pc. Goodbye Everex.
2. Vendors need to be able to afford Walmart's promotional costs. Vendors must be able to afford the other costs of being in the retailer. There are many. Verrry many.
3. A $299 PC relies on accessories to make the sale profitable. Otherwise it's a loss-leader that drags down the whole category. Maybe Walmart wasn't getting the accessory sales.
Economic reality is such that it may not make sense for Everex or Walmart to keep a $299 PC. I don't know if a $299 PC would make much sense at most retailers brick-and-mortar or even online without higher margin accessories.
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
I would be interested to see what the return rate has been for these computers.
It doesn't matter how ofter you sell out if 40% are returned because a person finds out he can't run his favorite windows app.
Maybe they sold a lot in the store, but how many were returned by people who didn't even read the packaging, or when their friend's pirated copy of some Windows app wouldn't install on their system, and their friend said "Dude, you got ripped off."
Online retailers have always had an edge over brick-n-mortar stores in terms of customer satisfaction. Why? Because the average intelligence (or at least knowledge) of the online buyer is way above that of the person who walks into CompUSA to buy one. (Okay, can't use that one anymore; if you try to walk into a CompUSA building today expecting to buy one, chances are good that you're REALLY lacking intelligence!)
I'm calling you out on this one because your comments may apply to some kind of Linux-equipped PC, but not the Everex products in discussion.
.debs. Presumably they are running some kind of ubuntu core, but there are no RPM's.
1. I personally downloaded the and built the package sources of the e17 desktop that everex uses and ran it on Debian Etch. It's all
2. It is quite plausible that there was no gcc/compiler/dev packages included. The last ubuntu I installed did not include them either. They were only as far away as their repository though.
3. Their tech support may actually be one guy because a $299 PC has no margin to have any support whatsoever in it. This is not new or unique. Adobe, Microsoft to name two have very poor support despite the outrageous prices paid for their products.
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
IT'S WAL-MART. The employees selling the junk in the electronics department don't even know what the ESRB rating system is and they had them try and sell a off-brand PC loaded with Linux. WTH comes to mind on that one. Anyone who would resonably know what Linux is, would not buy a off-brand workstation at Wal-Mart. Who were they selling to? People who know Intel and Windows and HP and buy computers off of Home Shopping Network or off the back of the Parade Magazine, wrong group.
I id'd the Walmart PC I bought as a "Linare" of the variety they sold from their website at one time. What I posted was absolute truth, not flamebait or trolling. I didn't say "down with Microsoft" or "up with Linux" or "I hate =insert company name here=" or any crap like that. Apparently your experience was difference; both yours and mine together may help others decide what they want.
As for your comments on my post:
1. I personally downloaded...
I couldn't, cuz no working drivers were included with the Linare Linux box, neither for the modem or the built in NIC card.
2.It is quite plausible that there was no gcc....They were only as far away as their repository though.
See my reply to your comment 1. The repository is really really far away if your modem don't work.
3.Their tech support may actually be one guy...
My complaint wasn't so much that there is only one guy, but that he didn't know what Linux was or how to support the box. in other words, the vendor couldn't pass it off as "he's a new guy" or my phone call was "misdirected". The vendor had failed to provide even a marginally acceptable level of support for the product.
Your request for someone to mod me down is unreasonable.
Pavlov wouldn't be so famous if he'd used a can opener instead of a bell.
I bet Microsoft was threatening them.
Otherwise, what kind of business discontinues a product that sells out?
Business question for 3rd graders:
You run a lemonade stand. Your pink lemonade sells out every day. You:
A) Make more pink lemonade
B) Stop making pink lemonade
Explain your answer.
When a vendor chooses to sell his/her product in Walmart, they have to met very high expectations.
For example, if WM is unable to sell 100% of the product, the vendor has to buy the difference back (via store credit). Or if WM sells the product too quickly, the vendor has to be able to meet the demand. If Everex has problems meeting the demand of the supply, WM may choose to pull that product from it's shelves.
WM's press release may have very little to do with the real reason it was pulled.
Interesting WM story: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html
Not from Wal*Mart, but straight from the dealer. I needed to set my Mom up with a new pc with wireless capabilities. Out of the box, the card didn't work and I had to install Ubuntu to get it on the network. A success story in that it worked as advertised: all of the hardware was Linux-friendly...However, the hacked up E17-based gOS was almost unusable. I had planned to erase it anyway, but wanted to check it out. I appreciate Enlightenment (and think that E17 is pretty awesome), but their port of it was NOT user friendly.
A first-time Linux user would likely be lost with their "experience"....I'd go with Dell if you really need to verify that everything will work with Linux. (Beyond a completely home-brew machine.)
This article quotes a Wal-Mart spokesperson as saying it was due to lack of demand. Hey, don't blame me, I'm just posting a link and summarizing it.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
Pewfff.. butterflies are for wussies, bumblebees, hornets and etc are much faster and far more challenging than butterflies. And if you screwup in your data handling calculations you may very well get stung... a lot. I have heard of some really serious basement freaks that "deposit" certain body fluids on a seriously overclocked CPU. The pheromones released attracts swams of horny killer honeybees which generate huge vivid displays the the data sets.
Personally I prefer dragonflies, mainly because they don't sting me. They are very challenging to observe, are several orders of magnitude faster than butterflies, capable of near zero time reference for directional flight vector changes thus providing awesome data display switching time, can fly with stability in multiples thus allowing for larger data sets, often fly in formation allowing for data stream pipe lining and kewlest of all they can hover which provides for very accurate data snapshots. Actually the kewlest thing is that they can mate while flying, of course butterflies can do that as well but not quite as vigorously. This is kinda like decoding and displaying encrypted porn on the "fly".
If you had any meta physical coding skills the next step in data display and analysis would be fairies. The data density of fairy grouping is unmatched, do you have any idea how many of these fit on the head of a pin? The resolution they are capable of rendering is far greater than the human eye can process. As entities of a higher dimensional state they are capable of making state transitions via quantum tunneling thus the effective display pixel flip is zero, faster even than the light they emit, chew on that for an while. They are capable of representing data from a quantum flux or entanglement, thus they can transmit and display data from anywhere or anytime and have perfect peer to peer data sharing abilities. Best of all some of the female fairies I have seen artwork renderings of are really really hot!
Wabi Sabi
Matthew