“Computers that run the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows didn’t attract enough attention from Wal-Mart customers, and the chain has stopped selling them in stores, a spokeswoman said Monday,” The Associated Press reports. “‘This really wasn’t what our customers were looking for,’ said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah. They were looking for Slim Jims, pro wrestling posters, 56×29 Faded Glory jeans, and beer helmets.
AP continues, “To test demand for systems with the open-source operating system, Wal-Mart stocked the $199 ‘Green gPC,’ made by Everex of Taiwan, in about 600 stores starting late in October. Walmart.com, the chain’s e-commerce site, had sold Linux-based computers before and will continue selling the gPC.”
Full article here.
How come people only consider the families who shop at Walmart, at not the families who make the products that get sold at Walmart? Last I heard, $5 a day was cheap labor, even in Asia.
I guess people like the illusion of being fair, just, and righteous, because it requires less thought than considering every person on the planet a human being.
I actually saw the Squidbillies at a Georgia Walmart.
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Amazing how may people are defending/supporting Walmart and not Linux. I find that funnier than the comments.
@Honest
You’re a tool.
“Censorship usually equals low-brow thinking. It is what it is.”
Actually, censorship is not allowing a particular thought to be exchanged with others in any form. Those CDs were available elsewhere.
What Wal-Mart did was marketing. I don’t know that they do it as much now, but it was nice to know in the 90s that my son could buy any CD he wanted at Wal-Mart and I wouldn’t freak.
Thank you, Mrs. Al Gore.
“Censorship” from the Apple-supplied widget dictionary, “is the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc. and suppressing unacceptable parts”.
This definition, TowerTone, not yours is what Wal-Mart did in the 90’s. They suppressed the “unacceptable parts” as they deemed fit for our children. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to parent my own children, not have Wal-Mart do it.
One could argue by your definition that what the Chinese government did in Tiananmen Square was “marketing”, not censorship.
Linux works fine and, if setup properly, is rock solid. The software management system is far better than Windows and OSX. Clicking on the Firefox icon for the internet, and the Thunderbird icon for email is not rocket science.
The unified interface argument is BS. There is no reason for less choice, and the ability to customize it for an individual or company is a bonus. As with OSX, I can run Windows virtualized if I wish.
Is it perfect? No. Does it need improvement? Yes. Do you need to spent copious amounts of time at the command line and recompiling the kernel? No.
The main issues people have with the OS is the same as going from Windows to OSX, expecting the new OS to be setup and work the same as the old OS. Anyone who has helped a new switcher will know what mean.
Wal-Mart makes it so convenient and cheap to buy stuff, that most people just end up buying more stuff (aka junk) than they normally would.
I’m glad they ditched the gPC’s.
you know I read and reread the MDN take…they never said anything about the quality of the people that shop at WM. A lot of you made assumtions about what they wrote but in reality all they did was highlight the kinds of products that most people seem to buy from WM. Based on that shopping list (and believe me that shopping list exists) its no supprise that people going into a store to buy slimjims may not be in the market for a computer, not to mention a strange and unknown thing called a Linux computer.
I think the people who got their panties in a twist need to examine their own elitism since that statement made their mind instantly go to low class people. Middle class people can like slimjims too ya know.
Check yourself there, Cider.
“officially examining” is not the same as a corporation offering what it thinks its patrons want.
Does 7-11 sell Playboy?
Are the 10 Commandments allowed on court walls?
Do you know what acceptable norms of decency are?
Wal-Mart did not raise my kids any more than NBC did by playing cartoons on Saturday morning instead of porn. Clear?
Wal-Marts action was a decision based on a perception of decency, put forward by Mrs. Gore and others, that labels should be placed on material to warn parents, just like movies and TV content. And what happened? Frank Zappa and Don Henley go to Washington to piss and moan about censorship. So a different approach was tried.
You also had to be 16 or 17 to buy some CDs for awhile. Good.
Now when the government starts telling the record companies to quit pressing material that it feels is wrong, then you can start throwing about the silly and overused notion of censorship.
Until then, consider who it is that wants the return of the “Fairness Doctrine”, and what censorship really is.
Let’s see . . . Wal-Mart did a test in 600 stores by selling a PC with an OS that no one has ever heard of at a price point ($199) where even people who don’t know much about computers would stop and think, “Wow, they must really use cheap parts in this PC in order to sell it for $199), and we’re surprised that it failed?
People who want Linux computers aren’t going to buy them at Wally World. They’re going to build their own or buy them online.
Also, the article doesn’t say how many of those PCs were returned to Wal-Mart.
I steal music for minors.
Sorry, typo… I steal devil music for minors.
@Sus
You’re a tool too. I have professionally used more operating systems than anyone here, and that does not include version numbers. From appliance OS to mainframe, I have used almost 20. The Mac OSs have been the best consumer OS since 1984. Leopard is by far the best consumer OS that there has ever been. This article says it all:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2273495,00.asp
For once an honest article without any blinders on.
Linux is a great OS, but it is crap for the general user. Yes, you do have to go to the command line too many times with Linux. Ever try installing Acrobat Reader on Linux? You cannot avoid the command line. Try asking John and Jane Walmart to do it. Pathetic.
Forget driver installation and support. It stinks. It absolutely sucks ass. Why? Because the whole open source community is full of dead enders who cannot complete a job and support a product. If you want to fish around SourceForge all day long looking for drivers that might work and might be supported, have at it.
Install Leopard on a MacBook Pro and it is as smooth as silk. Install Vista on a MacBook Pro and it is as smooth as silk. Install XP on a MacBook Pro and it is as smooth as silk. Install Ubuntu on a MacBook Pro and it is painful.
Linux is great for appliances, servers, and lab applications. But it is horrific for the general user. Don’t lie to people and try to tell them that Linux is as good or better than Leopard. Lie to yourself, that is fine. But don’t waste these people’s time.
Wal-Mart has made some very poor decisions regarding Linux-based computers. This history of bad choices goes all the way back to the Lindows PCs in 2002. Wal-Mart’s latest batch of Linux computers — the gPC and Cloudbook — were doomed to fail from the start. For one thing, Wal-Mart inexplicably chose to use a new version of Linux called gOS. While a nice concept, the gOS is still months if not years away from a “stable” release. Also, the gPC and Cloudbook both use VIA motherboards. But VIA does not actively support Linux in the form of drivers, nor has it released any relevant source code to open source developers. This has prevented the open source community from making decent drivers for VIA hardware either. So many users have reported that the gPC is unstable and underpowered. The Cloudbook was only released last month. But early reviews for it haven’t been very promising either.
Had Wal-M
art chosen to use Ubuntu 7.10 with Intel or AMD hardware for its latest Linux PCs, I bet that they would have been much more successful.
@ Lie Nucks
“I have professionally used more operating systems than anyone here, and that does not include version numbers.”
AND MY DAD CAN BEAT UP YOUR DAD!!!
Let it be known that a certain former first lady who is running for the presidency of this wonderful country is a former Walmart BOARD MEMBER, yes, she was a member of the board of directors there. She does not list it in her resume, as that would not fit her target audience.
So, all you Bush bashers think about that one a while…..
@ChrissyOne
If AM your father.
Uh Oh, my beer helmet just broke and I’m out of Slimjims. Where to go, where to go…
@ChrissyOne
By the way, I am at Walmart. Would you like me to pick up that mumu you wanted?
“Ever try installing Acrobat Reader on Linux”
Yes I have it open now, came preinstalled with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. If you’re too cheap to spend money on Linux be satisfied with KPDF.
btw you don’t need to recompile the kernel to use Firefox. The problems with Linux come when inexperienced people start tinkering with the software.
So you spent like 10 mins using each OS did you?
@TowerTone
~ “perception of decency” is the key here. If someone other than the artist forces him/her to change the album cover (ala Jane’s Addiction, Rob Zombie), that is censorship, and it is wrong. If Ms. Gore wants to add warning labels to music as an “advisory” for parents, good for her.
If Wal-Mart wants to sell Jane’s Addiction or Rob Zombie, they can do so, but do NOT change the art. Wal-Mart can keep its “perception” of what people want to themselves.
Incidentally, TowerTone, you’d like it in Canada– here, liquor is not sold in the supermarket. Every grocer, including the Costcos and Safeways of the world have constructed stand-alone liquor stores beside the main shopping stores. I guess you’d call it an “acceptable form of decency”. I’d call it an unnecessary waste of money.
At least our court rooms and public schools don’t have the Ten Commandments nor the Lord’s Prayer anymore. I’d call THAT an “acceptable form of decency”.
@@Lie Nucks
Thank you for proving my point. Joe and Jane Walmart are not going to know what the hell you are talking about. What they more than likely will know, after years of using Windows, is that they will need to go to Adobe.com to download Acrobat Reader.
Here is the instructions from Adobe for installing the Flash Player:
Installation instructions
.tar.gz installation
1. Click the “Download .tar.gz” link. A dialog box will appear asking you where to save the file.
2. Save the .tar.gz file to your desktop and wait for the file to download completely.
3. Unpackage the file. A directory called install_flash_player_9_linux will be created.
4. In terminal, navigate to this directory and type ./flashplayer-installer to run the installer. Click Enter. The installer will instruct you to shut down your browser(s).
5. Once the installation is complete, the plug-in will be installed in your Mozilla browser. To verify, launch Mozilla and choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser menu.
.rpm installation
1. Click the “Download .rpm” link. A dialog box will appear asking you where to save the file.
2. Save the .rpm file to your desktop and wait for the file to download completely.
3. In terminal, navigate to the desktop and type # rpm -Uvh <rpm_package_file>. Click Enter. (Note: This must be done as a root user). The installer will instruct you to shut down your browser(s).
4. Once the installation is complete, the plug-in will be installed in your Mozilla browser. To verify, launch Mozilla and choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser menu.
YUM repository installation
1. Click the “Download .rpm” link. A dialog box will appear asking you where to save the file.
2. Save the .rpm file to your desktop and wait for the file to download completely.
3. In terminal, navigate to the desktop and type # rpm -Uvh <rpm_package_file>. Click Enter. (Note: This must be done as a root user).
4. Once the installation is complete, in terminal, type # yum install flash-plugin. Click Enter. (Note: This must be done as a root user).
5. To verify the plugin is installed in Mozilla, launch Mozilla and choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser menu.
6. To get the most up-to-date Flash Player in the future, simply type # yum update flash-plugin in terminal. You will not need to repeat steps 1-4.
You got it bad, Cider, and you don’t get the point.
Those artist can choose not to have their material distributed by Wal-Mart. That was their choice.
As far as the supermarkets, I have never been in one in the States that sells liquor, either.
Do they have porno magazines at the check out counters by the bubble gum and Snickers in Canada? You know, where the pictures are not “censored” from anyone in line to view? Do you see where this is going? You have to draw the line somewhere.
I could care less what someone wants to record or sculpt, or print or take a picture of, but that doesn’t give them the right to distribute it if it doesn’t pass the local standards of decency.
Now if you are running a huge supermarket chain, you might find it easier to have some of the artist left off of the shelf, or have the lyrics removed, or the cover art changed, or the recording altered to make it easier to sell at all of your locations.
And if the bands don’t like it, they can sell it through other channels. That doesn’t stop them from recording it, or performing it, or selling it, so it is NOT censorship. I’m sorry to say this, but you have a very childish view of what censorship is, as if anyone has the right to force their absence of values on someone else.
Now answer me this; do you actually buy your music at Wal-Mart? Because Target has a much better selection and price.
And since they didn’t go as far as Wal-Mart in changing the product, they picked up a large chunk of business, Wal-Mart eased up on restrictions, and some of the rappers and head bangers got a clue.
BTW, notice any difference in these two album covers?
http://www.google.com/musica?aid=4BLOIKX53BE&sa=X&oi=music&ct=result
Wasn’t Wal-Mart that did it.
What exactly is Wal Mart. Is that like K Mart or Big W, you know, a big mall department store/chain??