October 31, 2002

CNet: Wal-Mart expands Linux offering

My spin:If the "Linux community" - the resellers, geeks, and all others rise of and begin to support Linux installations as we enjoy in the Windows community, the use of Linux can only increase in the end user community. However, the problem I see is similar to Apple. John Doe buys a Linux PC from Wal-Mart, sure he can download and/or buy a lot of software from Linux resources but when his friends want to let him use some of their software what happens then? Apple enables pretty easy inter-operability between PC files, especially Microsoft Office ones, but still the worlds have a wide chasm between them.

In addition, based on some reviews I've read at times users must drop to a command line and issue DOS like commands to get certain things done - Windows is light years ahead of the Linux GUI in this respect.

Retail giant Wal-Mart has added the Lycoris version of Linux to its menu of budget PCs.
Wal-Mart has become one of the most important mainstream boosters of the open-source Linux operating system and other alternatives to Microsoft's Windows.

Through its Web site, the retail giant early this year began offering low-cost PCs without an operating system preinstalled. It then expanded to Linux, initially relying on the Lindows distribution of Linux and later expanding to include MandrakeSoft's version of the OS. (full story)

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