Forum Moderators: bakedjake
[cnn.com...]
I assume this LINUX under a different name?
Nice find.
They'd love to join in... Unfortunately they've already sold their souls to the DevilSoft. (They don't have any choice in the matter now.)
Even more interesting, what will mICROsOFT respond with? Any guesses?
The wrong way, again. :)
Indian Linux enthusiasts in upbeat mood [biz.yahoo.com]
"No one could have possibly arranged for more publicity for the open source movement and its importance than Bill Gates coming and giving $400 million to fight Linux," said Atul Chitnis, an adviser to the Bangalore Linux Users Group
The only problem I had is that they'd advertised them as having 6 drive bays. They got here and only had 4. You have to buy a special bracket to get six.
I have to believe that HP and Dell are slpping their heads right about now.
No way. You're forgetting about one crucial element -- profit! Even with the cheapest parts, a $199 computer leaves very little room for profit. A $599 PC, even with the Micro$oft license (which Dell and HP pay very low rates for), they are still making a decent margin.
At $199, they may sell a lot of them, but without a healthy profit margin, they won't be in business very long. Then who do you call when the "no name" parts start to fail?
Seems that he got the idea from a co-worker, that bought four of them, along with, you guessed it, Windows XP to install on all of them.
I thought about getting one. Decided against it. They are slow, buggy and the OS is a pathetic version on Linux. I expect many more people will buy the 200 box and install an OS they are familiar with.
DG, for the $200 box they switched from Lindows to Lycoris.
Lycoris a is relatively well respected though newbee oriented distribution.
I realize that my demands are a bit higher than the average user. I still prefer to build my own.
I am interested in seeing the return rate and some feedback by consumers.
Windows XP to install on all of them.
Quite slow.
Littleman, I know you love Linux, I like it too, but yer bias shows through just a tad. :)
I haven't run a system with 128 megs of RAM since 1997. Why would anyone?
>Why would anyone?
Because with 500/128 my email client, editor and browser all load up in less than half a second.
My angle:
On the leaner side of computing [webmasterworld.com]
BTW, Debian has over nine thousand free applications available to anyone with a net connection.
I ordered a Lindows one from Walmart last week.
Even with the cheapest parts, a $199 computer leaves very little room for profit.
..WalMart always makes a profit. Quantity pricing for companies like WalMart would blow your mind. Trust me on this one.
Cheers
- Chad
Come again. Someone is buying a $199 computer and expects to be able to play UT2003? I know I'm stretching the point, but these machines are not aimed to run 'any software or game'; the extra burden of XP and its alpha blended tooltips is just a killer for these poor machines. They'd be lucky to run anything with that overhead.
Come again. Someone is buying a $199 computer and expects to be able to play UT2003?
You laugh, but I guaruntee that there are thousands of children who wake up to $199 PC's and a copy of UT2003 (Q3, No One Lives Forever, WarCraft III, etc.) on Christmas morning because their Mom/Dad don't know a diddle about computers, and just saw the price tag. That's the type of consumer Walmart targets - price over quality.
Hopefully at least some of those parents are pushed past the $199 PC isle to the PS2 / GameCube / XBox isle. Poor kids....
A $199.00 PC is a landmark, and it wasn't brought to you by the folks from mono-duo-poly land.
Thanks Walmart.
will these $199 computers be able to handle chat and the type of online games offered at yahoo?
Yes, I would imagine so. Basic web surfing (minus things like Java or Flash) requires a pretty low end PC. I've got a Pentium 90 that can still surf most of the web. It's slow, but it works.
Personally I hope that they sell a ton of these computers. Once they dig into the uneducated market Dell and Gateway will have to find a way to compete but still maintain their standards, it could also be the first steps to breaking Micro$oft's back. Competition is a good thing especially in a depressed market.
I agree, competition is a good thing, and I would love to see cheaper PC's and a way cheaper price from Microsoft (Windows 98 still retails for over $150, and it's nearly 5 years old!).
My fear is that we're not seeing even competition. We're seeing a cut-rate PC at a cut-rate price. If Dell and Gateway can still deliver great quality and match these types of prices, fantastic! What I don't want to see is low quality at a great price from them. You have to cut corners somewhere, right?
No matter what happens, Walmart has stuck a steak in the ground. Now it will be interesting to see how the rest of the industry responds.
I'd especially like to hear from all the Mac fanatics. Your machines are ridiculously over-priced already. Essentially, you're just using a boutique unix system. When will Apple start dropping its ridiculous prices?
And here is where WalMart will make their money. In a few months/years, when they get the hang of it, who will they go to when they want more... their friendly neighborhood WalMart, where they bought the first one. They will upgrade. They will buy bigger, faster, stronger. And WalMart has just (once again) bullwacked its way into another market.
