View Single Post
morningstarrising
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Philadelphia, PA
 
2008-01-28, 18:49

It seems like 2008 is the year of two hundred dollar computers.....And Microsoft is no where to be seen near them:

Five reasons not to fear a $200 Linux PC


Quote:
In quick succession, the number of mass-market, sub-$200 desktops has tripled--from one to three--in less than three months. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, small form-factor PC maker Shuttle debuted its $199 KPC. The catch? It's not preloaded with Windows, but an operating system based on Linux. Then last week, Mirus and Linspire collaborated on the Mirus Linux PC, which is now for sale at Sears.com. It's $299 (although an included $100 rebate brings it to $199), and is preloaded with Freespire 2.0, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution.

But the beginning of the low-cost computer trend actually started last fall. The Everex gPC showed up on the shelves of Wal-Mart for $198, a low price even for a desktop PC. It's bundled with speakers, a mouse, and a keyboard, and it comes with 24-hour tech support. The operating system is called gOS, a version of Ubuntu 7.10. Sure, that may be almost unpronounceable for most average consumers, but despite that, Wal-Mart is having trouble keeping the gPC in stock.


Linux is getting more mainstream exposure than just appearing in inexpensive computers. It's now being offered by two of the world's largest PC manufacturers, Dell and Lenovo, and is making its way into tiny--not to mention trendy--inexpensive laptops, like One Laptop Per Child's XO, Everex's CloudBook, and Asus' Eee PC, all of which come with Linux preinstalled.

The success of devices like the gPC and Mirus Freespire--both are sold out at Wal-Mart and Sears.com, respectively--and even the more expensive and portable Eee PC, is a surprise to most.

"The success is, in part, driven by the fact that for people doing an increasing percentage of day-to-day tasks like e-mail in the context of software as a service, at that point it soon doesn't matter what operating system you have," said Redmonk's O'Grady. "If a majority of (computer) usage is browsing the Internet and doing things like that, (Linux) is perfectly credible, perfectly usable."

I bought two gPC for my company for Christmas, and they are humming along, which we really needed for our participants because running XP on old Pentium 3 computers was causing problems, not to even get into the problems of making sure people don't download things they shouldn't on a website by mistake.

I'm now thinking of buying several more...So what do you guys think?

Jebus Google, just buy Apple already...
  quote