 With the ever growing popularity of light-weight Linux PCs, Sears has decided to join in the fun. The Wal-Mart Everex PC made a huge splash in the market in late 2007, and it continues to sell out. Now, Sears would like to bank off of that selling power with their own cheap Linux PC. Linspire Inc. made the announcement that Sears will begin selling a $199 PC (after a $100 mail-in-rebate) featuring Linspire's Freespire 2.0 Ubuntu-based Linux operating system. Is this the sign that the world is wising up? That low cost PCs are the future for our college students, kids, and parents who can't afford the expense of the high-priced market? Is change sweeping through the U.S. and the rest of the world, and is its name Linux?
Sears is going directly for Wal-Mart's throat with the newest addition to the Linux PC market. The hardware is assembled by Mirus Innovations, a North American PC manufacturer. There are a couple of obvious differences between the Wal-Mart Everex PC and the new Sears Linspire PC; the new PC will run on an 1.6Ghz Intel Celeron CPU instead of the VIA C7-D 1.5 GHz CPU, and it will come packed with a full 1gb of memory instead of the Everex's 512mb. Does this spell doom for the Everex PC? In this humble writer's opinion, No. It might spell doom for the bloated, over-priced PCs of the past though.  It's pretty clear that the market is open enough and ready enough for droves of cheap Linux-based PCs. The Everex computer has been sold out. The ASUS Eee laptops are selling rapidly. And now, this new Sears PC may be just the next in a series of Linux computers to shatter the former philosophy of the PC market, that more expensive is better. No one is kidding themselves that these computers will be used by gamers, by people trying to run an intensive server, by anyone except your average person who needs little more than a web browser, e-mail, word processor, and a chat box. But isn't that the majority of home users? Most people are getting tired of plunking down the extra hundreds of dollars for a Microsoft Windows-based PC just to do some simple stuff like visit their favorite web page or send an e-mail to their friends or write a term paper. These cheap, reliable, speedy Linux PCs are coming on strong, and they're exactly what people are looking for.
Will the potential success of the new Sears PC and the existing success of its competitor Linux PCs prompt even more companies to join in on the cheap Linux PC market? Will Dell start dropping their prices in order to jump in on this? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's a sign that changes are happening. And it's a potentially scary market for the bigger, badder PC companies with the high cost of their Windows-only market. How much can people afford in this waning economy? Can they really be throwing down a $1,000 for a PC just so they can check their e-mail? How much money can your average college student afford to pay for a PC with the ever-growing tuition costs? How much of their budget can Public Schools expend on new computers in the libraries and classrooms? Pretty soon, a lot of people are going to have to take long, serious looks at cheap computers like these, and if they do, if they take the plunge and go for the leaner, meaner Linux computers, what's going to happen when a generation of college kids jump into the work force, having spent the last four years on their favorite Linux computer? What's going to happen when young kids and teenagers come home every day after spending time in the classroom on their LInspire or Ubuntu PC? Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.
 Add as favourites (45) |  Quote this article on your site | Views: 5330
Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved |
