Published at LXer:

Newswires are buzzing with Wal-Mart's Linux PC and its sold out status. This news alone should be enough to prove the viability of Linux in mainstream households for people who don't need a mega powerful PC for word processing, e-mail and Web browsing. I can go on and on about the same old issues and solutions, but I don't need to. Wal-Mart's success proves that very well.

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Article claims the implosion will come when new users need support.

Maybe they'll goggle "gos support"

Well the first sentence is OK.

There are too many unsupported generalizations like this one:

Where did he acquire this data? Based on my personal experience I believe a PC running Linux is actually easier to troubleshoot and fix than one running some flavor of Windows since the community is much better informed. This is (or should be) especially true of the more popular distributions such as Ubuntu, SUSE, and Fedora. Further, the user (or technician) is actually allowed to change things with a more "open" operating system since the system tools actually allow a person to see what is going on.

I suppose each author wants to present a "hook" to give the audience something to ponder. I will give the author credit for trying, but that is about it.

That column is a complete load of hooey.

The amount of help available on the net is probably an order of magnitude better and more abundant for Linux than Windows. Almost every problem I have I googled and there are answers already out there. I've never seen a Windows site come anywhere near LQ in terms of quality, quantity and helpfulness.

Sooo I pay 200 bucks for a computer and I expect premium support? LOL While you may be right going to the local CompUSA may cost more to repair Linux, I couldn't testify to that but probably. I know to repair a Vista system costs an arm and a leg, but for my Ubuntu system I go to the FREE forums and so far never missed fixing any problem I have come up with. This coming from a "not the sharpest tool in the shed" almost 60 year old. I am so confident with my Linux I uninstalled my Vista OS on the other half of this hard drive and now have been pure Linux for months now.

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Hum. This guy may be right. Perhaps not about the cost of Linux support being bigger than that for Microsoft, but he makes a point when he says cheap linux PCs bought by people who don't want to be bothered with looking for answers at the first problem will turn back to Windows in the wink of an eye. A cheap PC could be easily replaced with a spendier one running Vista. Many people associate price with quality, don't they ?

Can't wait to see all of the discounted systems because people returned them to wallyworld.

FUD, this whole topic seems to me to be a Microsoft generated statement. People will buy cheap machines and be unhappy, yeah so? people will turn away from Linux, yeah so? people who spend 200 dollars on a computer will then spend thousands on a new Microsoft computer (I doubt this as they went to Wally looking for a cheap 'puter) Enough people will hate Linux, it will cause irrefutable harm to Linux. So is the parent claiming there is a tipping point where enough people dislike Linux and like Microsoft Linux won't survive? Again I call FUD.

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The thing that bothers me about this is Wal-Mart sells a computer with Linux pre-installed for $200.00. They take off Linux add Windows Vista Home, add 512M memory add a mouse, add a keyboard all for an extra $100.00.

It kinda makes you wonder if Wal-Mart isn't taking advantage of the "Anti-Vista" movement. I would rather see them sell the exact same PC with the exact same specs and accessories, one with Linux and the other with Vista.

Linux Item Description
Vista Item Description


BTW the Linux version has lots of positive reviews while the Vista version has no reviews at all? Maybe nobody has bought one yet, or Vista will not run on it so nobody can post a review?