“To meet the growing demand for low-cost and fully-featured personal computers, MandrakeSoft and Microtel Computer Systems will be offering PCs preloaded with Mandrake Linux at Walmart.com. Prices start at $389.” Read the press release and browse the aisles of Mandrake/MicroTel/Wal-Mart PCs.
Microtel PCs with Mandrake Linux Available at Walmart
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I don’t think Mandrake or Lindows are the best choice for new users. I wish Microtel/Wal-Mart and Xandros or SuSE would hook up. My experience with Mandrake has been buggy and Lindows sounds to restrictive to be useful.
Xandros is based on Corel Linux, which was very nice for new users. SuSE is easy to use, stable, and has bar none the best multilingual support available. Where I live, there are many Spanish, Chinese, some Japanese (and others) speaking people who I think would really appreciate being able to load their language of choice very easily.
I saw a computer running thizlinux with KDE 2.2 desktop in Fry’s store for $299 without monitor. This is in the ultra low-cost/fully-featured computers category – with 1.1GHz celeron/128MB sdram/blah blah blah….. The clerk told me that fry’s collaborated with the manufactures to have this box specifically made for them as many customers were requesting it!!!
Yes, Microsoft must surely be behind this. Put the worst linux distro on a cheap computer to make joe public hate linux with all his being.
This will surely increase windows XP sales.
I haven’t tried Mandrake for a while, the last time I did it was pretty good. At least it’s not Lindows, what a scam that is (Click and Run). Sure, I know Lindows is based on Debian, but I think they should have included support to double-click on an RPM package to install it (I tried it). I don’t think Xandros has anything to show yet but they sound well intentioned. Corel Linux is certainly the easiest to install operating system I have yet experienced but SuSE 7.3 that I installed on a machine last week was pretty close.
“Put the worst linux distro on a cheap computer”
Mandrake is one of the best distros out there. Probably the easiest to install, and configure.
-G
Considering the number of stores Walmart has, and the volume of units it prefers to sells, it would be interesting if they decided to cover other distrubutions and OSs. By the nature of the stores Microsoft has no pull with WalMart’s management (Isn’t thier P.O.S. Linux based?) and it gives they a clear diffirence from 90% of the other computer stores out there.
I imagine that Walmart feels that by offering Linux, Microsoft will give them a lower price on the OS for the Windows machines they sell. Smart for them, as now they can compete even more effectively in the much larger Windows PC market.
The IT professionals of the world should take note. If they want better terms for the Microsoft products they license, they should make very serious looking moves towards Linux which Microsoft could not take lightly. Perhaps forming a consortium with the goal of advancing Linux in the areas it falls short of their needs, and doing trials internally with current distros, would work. It would be an inexpensive and educational bargaining chip.
What is strange to me is that more retailers/resellers aren’t doing this. Perhaps you have to be someone as large and diversified as Walmart to take the chance, because MSFT would react to a PC vendor by raising the price for the OS, which would be bad…
What started out as a ploy to get better windows pricing from microsoft ends up being final proof that linux sucks and only microsoft products are suitable for the masses. Enjoy your apache servers, assholes, your despicable treatment of linux newbies online has created vast hordes of rabid anti-linux fanatics that wouldn’t try your gay OS a third or fourth time if you paid them. No wonder your long-haired syphylitic hippie founder chose a ground-dwelling bird for a mascott. Even HE knew this shit wouldn’t fly.
for walmart a $300 or $400 computer represents are fairly large sale.
I don’t know about any grand conspiracy here other than to increase their average sales per customer via a “high-price” ticket item (at least for walmart).
However, Walmart is not going to sell PCs with windows because who would buy them? no-one. In addition, the margins on a windows pc are probably not as good as these linux PCs. Or at least they can get lower prices with linux
so with a linux PC wal-mart offers a low cost pc that is different from the already saturated market. they can offer it at a lower price (which distinguishes them from competitors) and probably keep equal or better margins then say best buy.
I have replace my Win2k with Mandrake 8.1 and now 8.2 and I don’t miss it. It is far more powerfull and a least I have a full distant access, a web server, an office suite, Photo shop like software and I can continue….
The best of all that is that I did not paid 2000$ in software licence for causual use.
I tell you. Mdk 8.2 is desktop ready.
Fabien
“What started out as a ploy to get better windows pricing from microsoft…………final proof that linux sucks………………….wouldn’t try your gay OS…………………..long-haired syphylitic hippie founder……..ground-dwelling bird for a mascott……..this shit wouldn’t fly.”
It’s good to see that Steve Balmer drops by occasionally.
Everyone clap for the monkey boy. Whoo! hoo!
How’s that football injury Steve? Wearing a helmet
these days? Sorry to hear about your penis.
Linux market will broaden because of this. There are
a lot of people who have never even heard of linux. Walmart is taking linux to Joe Average.
There’s no such thing as bad advertising as long as they know you exist. How the hell do you think MS has lasted so long with such crappy software.