Wal-Mart Pulls the Plug on Linux Desktop

Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in U.S. announced on Tuesday that it would no longer be offering Everex's Linux-based gPC desktop in its retail stores because of the lukewarm response from customers. Although the in-store stock has sold out, Wal-Mart does not plan to restock stores with the gPC.

Melissa O'Brien, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart said that the customer response to the US$199 Everex TC2502 Green gPC desktop was not as high as expected. "This really wasn't what our customers were looking for," she said.

Everex had introduced the $199 Linux desktop with embedded Google software last October. Wal-Mart agreed to carry the product as a test and stocked it in about 600 stores where it saw high interest in computers.

Even though Wal-Mart has now decided not to sell the computer at its retail stores, they are still available on Wal-Mart's consumer Web site.

The Everex TC2512 Green gPC2 features a 80 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, 512 MB of RAM, a VIA C7-D Processor running at 1.5Ghz, and standard peripherals: speakers, mouse and keyboard, with the monitor not included.

Walmart.com currently carries nine Everex models, two of them Linux-based: an updated version of the Everex desktop offering, called the gPC2, also for $199 without a monitor, and the Everex Cloudbook, a $399 Linux-driven laptop.

The unenthusiastic public response to Linux based PC’s can be attributed to the general public’s unfamiliarity with the Linux OS which lags far behind Apple OS X and Microsoft's ubiquitous Windows OS.

However, a Linux system usually runs much smoother on a striped down hardware configuration like those which are generally offered. This capability makes Linux based PC’s a perfect choice for browsing purposes and for using as an office suite.