Wal-Mart’s Linux PC Isn’t Such A Good Deal

Yawn. The community will take care of this, or it won’t. Nobody knows how to fix Windows computers anyway. Big retailers already grossly overcharge for tech support (an yes, reinstalls are the most common solution they employ… after stealing data, of course). >$50 to insert a new RAM chip is a common price charged for the easiest internal upgrade.

Why don’t you use your forum to spread knowledge, not FUD?

It’s true that it may be much harder to find someone willing to fix the PC when it breaks, but you also need to leverage that the linux PC will most likely not “break” as often.

Therefore,

3X service fee/yr with windows (give or take, depending on virus’ and what other’s in your household install that thrash the system, or when windows update flubs)
compared to
1x service fee/yr with linux. (Or just find a high schooler willing to do the job, or do it yourself)

Still, I really don’t think the $199 wally world PC is a good deal, as DDR2 is so cheap, those via C7 boards will run with a cheap power supply (since they don’t stress it), and the boards are for sale for approx $60. You can easily put one together in 30 minutes with less than $150, or spend the $199 and upgrade to a Sempron on a nvidia 6100 board.

Anyway, the $199 PC will meet the needs of many. Personally, I’d prefer to save a bit and purchase a Asus eee.

The thinng that sticks it to me about Linux PC is the cost of fixing it. If it costs too much to fix buy a windows. Windos has the programs setback of them trusting you less. Mac has the weakness of being ancomfortable for some. Most people live on windows since it works the way it does. Plus PC gaming is fun and I have alot of Microsoft products. It is just easier. Plus, Honestly my computer is good. Most times it isn’t about what is better its about who you are. Same with consoles.
Wow I am Jumping subjects aren’t I.

I still need a new one though. I’m getting vista.

Nah. The cost puts these PCs into markets that cannot afford tech support: Gramma getting one for 7 year old suzy; pops getting online *finally*, etc.

For those users, simply totally reinstalling after a foulup is the only thing they need, and if the system comes back to ‘as delivered’ condition, then this unsupported user simply reads their notes to reconfigure the stuff the same way as they configured it the first time.

Or they huck the crashed system into the trash, muttering: ‘lesson learned’ (stomp stomp stomp), and then they go pay the excessive M$ tax, totally convinced Linux reeks like yonder outhouse.

I had no trouble finding help for my Linux online. Plus, my local computer store started to train their techs in Linux as well because of the many problems their customers are having with Vista that many of them have switched to Linux.

What you seem to have forgotten is that Linux tends to also be more reliable and stable than Windows (Vista) is as well so there is less of a need for in depth support.

Forget Wal-Mart; get a Zonbu. http://www.zonbu.com Laptop under $300 and full tech support. Can’t beat it.

For someone who uses dialup, the unit is a nonstarter. That person would be better advised to consider the more expensive unit with modem and XP :( Lots ‘O sizzle and no steak.

“Not to mention, the average cost of fixing a Linux PC would be far greater than fixing a Windows PC.”

GOS = Ubuntu . It’s Ubuntu. With another face. I played with it.

I offer phone support for the computers I do sell with Ubuntu & companies like System 76, Zareason who now offers the same Walmart PC as well.

Some State LoCo teams offer free Face to Face Support by phone and offer a free phone call for help.

Now the cost for the machiene for repair would be more for this model. It is a ITX mainboard, which inside has a soldered CPU Via chip inside, but ITX mainboards are CHEAP. But so are CHEAP Other whitebox PC’s.

Many whitebox PC’s designed for the “Throw away PC Market” use incompatible non ATX standard PSU’s & mainboards, that the cost to parts replacement outweighs the cost of buying another “Throw away”. For the last 4 years, MANY of my customers are running these computers. I service more of these non standard whiteboax PC’s than any of the better line brands that HP, Dell, Everex, EMachine, & Gateway design for over the 1,200.00 mark.

It’s terrible that looking for a good deal, also brings back “you get what you paid for.” , but the deal is, many vendors make more money selling these cheap PC’s than their better lines. You always notice many large retailers only supply a plethora of these cheap boxes, and only a few in store that are considered better quality models are only filling a few of their shelves. Many of the best of the best models are only available online mostly or ordered over the phone. Also notice those nicer models are the only one’s promoted on TV to be ordered by telephone.

I mean common! A 599.00 Laptop with Vista Basic being sold with only 512MB in store?! You know that is a brick with in the first week! At least these Linux boxes can run under the same spec’s without a performance bricking. And do those PC’s with Vista also have good support? NO! I had one customer buy one of them, and was only offered 30 days of phone support & 1 year OEM replacement support!

With the MAJORITY of American’s making less than 38,000.00 a year this cheap box setups unfortunately will be where whitebox vendor’s will be making their payola. And people like me will be the one’s telling them when it’s burns up they bought a terrible product, tell them they should of bought the better model, but they will shrug my suggestions buying a nicer model, and go back to walmart and buy another… it makes me sick, makes my sales pitch meaningless compared to looking out for the best for my customers. They only care about the pricetag, & even I had to change my sales strategy on also selling lower end models to be competitive with the big guys..

yes, is true what you say, more Linux technicians on the market is a must!

We are entering an age where most linux users will be “Joe or mary the complete computer noob”…

the age where every Linux user was an advance pc user will soon be over..

As a result of the Walmart hit. Linux has so much future as mainstream for the masses and developing countries.

Windows has gone the MAC way (modern, not very cheap high end PCs) lots of looks and poor performance…

i applaud Walmart’s initiative, it’s far better than what MR. Dell has done so far.

i remember when i was 15 years old and i started using win 95/98 it had so many bugs, issues, instability, but…. i learned a lot, i fixed every issue i encountered daily. Why? because i was young.

kids who use win XP these days know less and less about computers or their OS. Just by putting up with win 95/98 i became a pc technician and i didn’t even realized it… till years later when XP became mainstream.

targeting Linux to kids and teens is the way to go, they are the future, they will be the technicians of tomorrow and living in a Linux / open source world will be a reality with each passing day.

Did you notice that walmart also sells cheap windows vista PCs ??

you will only find 1 or 2 reviews in their site (you need to be a buyer to review). compare that to the dozens and dozens of the linux pc reviews.

do people prefer linux over vista? as i can see … Hell yea! and MACs too (high end)!

is Vista a flop? CNET says SO:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39029552,49293700-10,00.htm

my 0.2 c

:)

That’s an interesting scenario you’ve laid out there. Not bad. But I think a more plausible one would be that mighty alien spaceships sympathetic to Microsoft zap every Linux computer on the planet. There you go, no more Linux. Now Microsoft can get on with the business of getting us, and you, to pay them more and more for the privilege of using our own computers. Now where’s the “That was easy button?”

I have to disagree with this post.

1. Linux is a lot harder to get infected.
No virii, trojans, spyware. To actually get a virus working on your machine, you’ll need to spend at least an hour configuring it under Wine ;) .
Point: you will have a lot less problems in the long run on Linux, resulting in saving money

2. Linux is a lot harder to get screwed up by User.
Face it, you can’t do much screwing up until you learn about “sudo”… and until then, you probably will figure out not to screw it up.
Bonus, in all critical actions, you need to type in your password. And yes, it’s a bit annoying at first… but as I noticed while using Vista, it’s a lot less annoying that Microsoft’s implementation.

3. While I agree that support from your local technician might be worse, they might even be pleased when they hear that you have Linux. Nowadays, if someone asks me to install him/her Windows XP or Vista, I tell them to go somewhere else. If someone asks me for help with Linux, I’d gladly help and probably free of charge.
Linux is an OS, but also a community.

4, Googling almost any problem on Linux, almost always brings up a post (verifiable by a lot of comments) for follow-up instructions. All you have to do is just paste these commands in console (you can also do it in graphic mode, but console is so much faster and easier when you already know what to do). A lot easier that follow instructions in Windows.
Also, if you have a problems, there are a lot of communities that will help you with it (IRC, Forums…)
Example: http://ubuntuforums.org/

5. One thing I’m skeptical of, is of course the distro they installed. Pure X/K/Ubuntu distro could have been more useful for most users.
Also, since it’s one of the most popular distributions of Linux, it’s much easier to get support for it.

6. I have to add it, simply to say that all the programs a user needs to install are simply available in Adept manager or Synaptic, all updates for OS and programs are automatically available to you.
What’s more convenient for the end user?

Seems to me this entire article is biased speculation. The facts are, it’s much less likely that a computer running Linux will get hosed by a new user, simply because most of the built-in security features in the operating system. Secondly, a computer that has Linux installed hopefully came with a host of GPL software, unlike Windows which a commercial platform that requires its owner to install Microsoft’s (or third-party) software to arrive at a functional, useful machine. Microsoft Office, for example, is a good Office suite, but it’s not free, and most users will want to install a variety of programs to get the computer to a functional state for them. A Linux installation provides the user with most of the software needed for everyday usage, and also the means to install other software equivalents from repositories in which the software is known and tested. Viruses, spyware, trojans, worms, rootkits, all these things will quickly bring a PC running Windows to its knees! A Linux box is NEVER at risk from these things (there are no known Linux viruses, only a proof-of-concept) and therefore the user will not require support to fix a problem caused by these things. The Linux kernel has drivers built-in, so drivers will not be installed by the user - no support required there either. I’m not saying there won’t be any support requirement at all (imagine!), but in my experience (having run Windows for many years and Linux for two) Linux just works with less hassle. There’s WAY less maintenance on a Linux box - the thing defrags itself on the fly, and it’s way more stable. Grandma will likely not be able to wreck a Linux install. Suzy might be able to wreck something if she uses the root password and starts changing things indiscriminately, but I think it’s much easier to wreck a Windows installation simply because it requires so much more software to be installed for it to be useful. I would like to see how this plays out and put some confidence in Walmart or any other company that sells a Linux PC to provide whatever support they want. Sounds to me like the author of the above article either works for Micro$oft or is a big fan of Windows and hasn’t tried Linux lately. Give it a try, and let the market play this out. Dell isn’t selling Linux laptops because it wants to lose money. Some people just don’t want to deal with the issues associated with using Windows (commercial software, viruses etc).

You could say the same about OS X. This is FUD. It’s no more difficult than Goggling for Windows Fixes. Ubuntu is well supported, with an extensive community for support. Malware and Viruses, BSODs and DRM choke Windows. The Linux computer is primarily running web apps through Firefox.

Sounds like you work for Microsoft.

If people buy these PCs then more people will have to learn to repair them too.
Yes it might take a while to get up to speed on it, but if it gives people access to the Internet and everything else most users want without paying Microsoft an extortionate amount for Vista then thats great in my opinion.

This article is nothing but _pure_ FUD. I’m not going to waste my time explaining the Linux support options, because it is clear you are a Windows fan-boy.

People who use technicians to fix their OS problems will find that they have to hire LESS often than they had to hire a Windows tech. And as the new OS gets more and more popular, knowing how to fix Linux will eventually become a pre-requisite for ANYBODY seeking a position in Support.

Bottom line, it’s a good thing that Windows be eliminated for home use. One would expect the change to be painful, but this issue doesn’t seem to be particularly troubling.

Good Lord What FUD & Deck!

This has to be among the most uninformed or dishonest Windows FanBoy FUD articles I’ve ever read; the Author obviously didn’t do any homework and is as ignorant of Linux and the Wal-Mart PC as he obviously is of Microsoft’s products…

To Wit:

1) The Wal-Mart PC comes with a restore CD; this is in the 99% solution employed by 99% of Windows Consumers when things go sideways that they don’t know how to fix, and many Windows ‘TurnKey’ retail PC’s don’t have a restore option that’s as effortless as the Wal-mart/gOS PC – Windows Users have to reinstall (and activate) Windows and all the required drivers; a chore that even gives many Certified Microsoft Professionals headaches.

2) The Wal-Mart PC’s gOS/Linux while not completely fool or idiot proof is nearly so — and unlike Windows it’s very unlikely to get screwed up from user error or just mucking about and trying things haphazardly; there’s virtually nothing you can break or missconfigure that would ever require a reboot no less a reinstallation. Moreover, gOS and Linux just aren’t open to and don’t have Windows security, trojan, or virus, issues; there just isn’t much out there that’s every likely to cause a problem in the first place.

But if some unfortunate Wal-Mart/gOS User does encounter a bit of bad luck, or finds a way to screw up settings to a point where he/she doesn’t understand why his/her Wal-Mart PC is behaving differently they can easily as a last resort very quickly restore the machine to its pristine default state which isn’t a configuration nightmare of shovelware and haphazard OEM missconfiguration that you’ll see on most if not all Windows PCs…

3) PC hardware is PC hardware, when it fails or breaks it doesn’t matter if the hardware shipped with Windows, Linux, DOS, Unixware, Oberon, BeOS or any one of a million alternatives — your recourse to repair/replacement is the same, as it’s PC standardized hardware. In the case of the Wal-Mart PC it’s warranted like any other hardware and VASTLY less expensive to replace out of warranty then ANY comparable PC that shipped with the added cost Windows and the additional hardware overhead it requires.

That was supposed to be ‘FUD and DRECK’…

=O)