Re: [PLUG] Wal-Mart.com vs. Micros~1

["William H. Magill" <magill@mcgillsociety.org>]

On Sunday, June 8, 2003, at 10:42  AM, Beldon Dominello wrote:
> I don't know when this started, but I'm surprised I didn't hear about 
> it
> sooner.  It seems Wal-Mart (online only) has started carrying computers
> pre-installed with SuSE Linux.  Very cool!

If I remember correctly, WallMart offered their first under $1000 
machine about 2 years ago. It was only available through their website, 
and actually got a fair amount of press coverage at the time as their 
price was more than $1000 LOWER than anything else available. However, 
as I recall, the "white box" they were offering was not all that great. 
It was clearly a product aimed at "first time users" who had no 
"needs," didn't know what they didn't know, and were willing to jump 
into the pool based on WalMart's reputation alone.

They appear to have expanded their offerings considerably since then. I 
believe Microtel was the provider of their first boxes.

However, I love the "Note" they start off the "features" description 
with...

"Note: Linux operating systems may not be compatible with some dial-up 
Internet services, such as AOL or Walmart Connect. Microtel can only 
guarantee Linux-based OS compatibility with factory-installed 
components. Microtel will not be responsible for the installation and 
operation of third-party hardware or software used with its computers 
that have these operating systems.

The Linux-based operating system in this PC is not compatible with any 
Microsoft Windows programs. However it is perfect for basic operations, 
such as Web browsing, email and instant messaging and can be easily 
upgraded to be compatible with Microsoft Office documents that have 
.doc, .xls or .ppt suffixes."

Aha well, so much for support of "open source." ... but for the price, 
it seems hard to beat. (Of course the $400 price tag does not include a 
monitor, but they don't point out that fact.)


T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
# Beige G3 - Rev A motherboard - 768 Meg
# Flat-panel iMac (2.1) 800MHz - Super Drive - 768 Meg
# PWS433a [Alpha 21164 Rev 7.2 (EV56)- 64 Meg]- Tru64 5.1a
magill@mcgillsociety.org
magill@acm.org
magill@mac.com

_________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group        --       http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug