Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Walmart yanks Linux off the shelf

Having a Linux PC on the shelf at Walmart, had a lot of us convinced that the tides were changing. No such luck.

WalMart has announced that it's Linux experiment is ending. After selling out of gPC from Everex over the holidays, a decision was made to stop stocking it on store shelves.

"This really wasn't what our customers were looking for," said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien.

We'll have to take her word for it since Walmart does not release sales figures. Must have been a more than a few returns. The gPC and Cloudbook from Everex will continue to be offered online at WalMart.com.

Note to WalMart executives: Don't give up on Linux, Next time though, try selling a real Linux PC with a mainstream (Read Intel or AMD) processor and a decent (Read AMD, Nvidia, Intel) video card. No offense to Everex, but the gPC is underpowered and underwhelming as a general purpose Desktop. The Windows version (+$100) of gPC was even less suitable for the general public. I still have high hopes for the Cloudbook as a general purpose lightweight laptop. If you are going to offer a Linux PC it needs to be full featured, all the bells and whistles Compiz, Games, lots of RAM, and a ton of applications in a stylish case. Otherwise you are inviting comparison with the next windows machine. Sure a $200 price point sounds great, but most consumers expect a $500 PC for $200 or less.

MrCopilot

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