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The Online Newspaper of Record
for Linux and Open Source

June 10th, 2002


Corporate Voices	Home	Linux.Com	Reports	NewsVac

Wal-Mart shipping PCs with Lindows preinstalled

Friday June 14, 2002 - [ 01:29 PM GMT ]
Topic - GNU/Linux - - by Tina Gasperson -
In a move that appears to be a coup for Michael Robertson et al, Wal-Mart's online store is offering eight different Microtel PCs with LindowsOS included. The computers sell for USD$299 to $599 and ship in one to seven days.

NewsForge originally reviewed Wal-Mart's OS-less PCs, a dramatic move away from the standard Windows-based home computer. Now the retailer is advertising systems with the LindowsOS distribution pre-installed, no longer just moving away from Windows, but now directly competing with it:

"These computers do not ship with Microsoft Windows. They ship with an exciting new UNIX based Operating System (OS) named Lindows. This exciting new OS delivers the stability of UNIX with the ease of Windows and the ability to run most Microsoft programs. These computer systems are a perfect low cost alternative to computers preloaded with Microsoft Windows."

To say that Lindows runs most Microsoft programs is a bit of a stretch. Wal-Mart says the PCs come with "mail, word processor, web browser, address book, calculator, cd player, MP3 player, Microsoft PowerPoint viewer, Word viewer, and Excel viewer," and buyers get to select three "free" Click-N-Run applications from the Lindows.com warehouse (of GPLed KDE-based software, we might add.)

No need to be concerned about the PCI 56k modems that come with the Microtel systems -- according to this NewsForge report, Microtel is shipping Linux-compatible modems in these systems.

For a really cheap setup, get the $299 system, add a USD$49 HP printer (most of HPs printers work with Linux) and a 15" Microtel monitor for USD$119. And if you're especially Wal-Mart loyal, you can even add a subscription to the company's ISP service, called Wal-Mart Connect, for USD$9.94 a month.

( Post a new comment )

IP over flying pig is starting to sound good. (#15870)
by Anonymous Reader on 2002.06.14 8:37

First Mozilla, now this. While it is only walmart.com, it's still a step forward.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]

ummm (#15875)
by Anonymous Reader on 2002.06.14 9:07

This will be an interesting opportunity to finally see if Michael Robertson was serious or if he (as most believe, myself included) is just blowing smoke.

I wonder why Walmart chose this distro, which has no wide-spread use, instead of a distro like Red Hat, Mandrake, or SuSE, which do have widespread use.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]

Re:ummm

2002.06.14 9:18

Re:ummm

2002.06.14 10:01

Why this is important. (#15877)
by Anonymous Reader on 2002.06.14 9:14

.. this is important, not because of Lindows, but because these machines are guaranteed to work with Lindows. Meaning, that for $299 you can now get a pre-built machine that you _know_ will work fully with your distro of choice, be it Lindows, Mandrake, SuSE, etc..

Throw openoffice on these things, and for under $3k, you can have 10 full-fledged office computers running.

Simply amazing. I hope schools take notice.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]

Re:Why this is important.

2002.06.14 10:02

7 Dayss, Yeah Right (#15879)
by Anonymous Reader on 2002.06.14 9:24

Don't believe the 7 days thing... it's false advertising.

I cancelled an order from them after 3 weeks passed with no shipment. They ignored 2 emails (I guess they only have the email address for show). Finally I called and they told me the factory was backordered.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]

Too bad it's WalMart (#15888)
by Anonymous Reader on 2002.06.14 10:16

This is a great step forward...too bad it happens to be WalMart, whom I wouldn't give one dollar of my hard-earned money to EVER.

Forget the well-known music/book censorship--that's just kid's stuff. Think about the fact they refuse to stock emergency contraceptives for women (as well as misopristol, the so-called 'abortion drug') in their in-store pharmacies. In many places, WalMart is the only place for low-income women to get such products.

Think about their viciously anti-competitive business practices (think MS is bad?). Their goal is not to fairly compete with local retailers--it is to obliterate them (*all* of them) by any means necessary.

Think about their virus-like invasion of small-town communities, buying off the local politicians and landowners--then leveling everything for their vast parking lots and shopping centers. The prototypical American homogenization.

Yes, Linux is good. WalMart is worse.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]

Re:Too bad it's WalMart

2002.06.14 10:33

Microtel info (#15889)
by Anonymous Reader on 2002.06.14 10:29

Anybody know where to find information about Microtel? Who are they? Where are they? Can they be taken seriously?

It is interesting to note that Lindows does not even mention this deal on their website. This uncharacteristic of them.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]

ISP service (#15891)
by Anonymous Reader on 2002.06.14 10:39

Wal-mart ISP service says their service is compatible
only with Win/xx OSes. So how can you expect this to work with Lindows? The ISP installation CD works only with windows OSes.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]

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