MESSAGE
| DATE | 2002-10-31 |
| FROM | Ray Connolly
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] More Linux PC's
|
Wal-Mart expands Linux offering
By David Becker
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 30, 2002, 5:17 PM PT
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.
By using the open-source software and low-cost processors from Taiwan
chipmaker Via, Wal-Mart has been able to drive down prices to $199 for a PC
without a monitor.
Lycoris was launched in Redmond, Wash., home base of OS rival Microsoft, two
years ago by former Microsoft systems tester Joseph Cheek. The company began
selling Lycoris Desktop/LX, its version of Linux for desktop PCs, early this
year and quickly won recognition for dressing up Linux with a user interface
similar in look and feel to recent versions of Windows.
"We don't have the same abhorrence for Windows that a lot of Linux fanatics
do," said Marketing Director Jason Spisak. "We like what Microsoft's
done--we think they've come up with a lot of great innovations. The
difference is that our software's open; we don't have anything to hide."
____________________________
New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
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