Wal-Mart has discontinued the Linux-based Green PCs made by Everex.
Wal-Mart has discontinued the Linux-based Green PCs made by Everex.
By Greg Kell
Mar 11, 2008 15:48 PM GMT
Wal-Mart Stores have pulled the Everex Linux Green PCs from shelves after dissappointing sales. The retail chain said that it wasn't what customers were looking for. "This really wasn't what our customers were looking for," said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien. The store chain stocked 600 stores last October with PCs running on the open-source operating system and priced them at $199. Consumer demand was disappointing. According to Everex, the international company sold more of the PCs from Wal-Mart's website than in the stores. Wal-Mart will continue to sell the gPC online but decided not to restock in-store inventory.
Walmart.com now carries an updated version, the gPC2, also for $199, without a monitor. The retail site also sells a tiny Linux-driven laptop, the Everex CloudBook, for $399.Linux software is maintained and developed by individuals and companies around the world on an open source basis, meaning that everyone has access to the software's blueprints and can modify them. There is no licensing fee for Linux which allows Everex to offer the PC at a minimal price. Manufacturers have to pay Microsoft to sell computers with Windows preloaded. Linux is mostly used in servers and is widespread, however, it hasn't made a dent in the computer desktop market. Surveys usually put its share of that market around 1 percent.
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