Walmart and Dell

Mercutio

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
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I am omnipresent
Hey, did everybody see that Walmart is going to stock - as in keep in inventory - a few models of Dell PCs?

Desperation move from Dell?
Another nail in the coffin for mom and pop shops?
Or is this the big opportunity for the Michelob and NASCAR set to realize what kind of crap Dell actually makes?
 
Dell is easy to beat by mom & pop shop, unless WalMart stocks the Ubuntu-equipped systems. The Ubuntu-Dell are hard to beat price-wise.

For instance :

  • Core 2 Duo E6320
    1GB DDR2 667MHz
    945G-based motherboard
    250GB SATA hard drive
    CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo optical drive
    magnificent Dell proprietary case and power supply
    Ubuntu
    cheapo Dell keyboard
    cheapo Dell rodent
    ___________________________________
    459U$
Tough to beat. But I don't think WalMart will stock boxes with the Linux OS, so they'll be easier to beat.
 
Walmart has stocked Linux machines in the past.
Particularly, they had a long partnership with some vendor that used Linspire and if I reach back a bit more I remember seeing Corel Linux and Storm Linux machines from Walmart as well.
 
That's a sales gimmick on Walmart's part.

People buy the Linux-based machine, discover that Word or the Sims doesn't run on it, and then come back and buy Windows at full price.
 
Mercutio said:
Walmart has stocked Linux machines in the past.
Particularly, they had a long partnership with some vendor that used Linspire and if I reach back a bit more I remember seeing Corel Linux and Storm Linux machines from Walmart as well.
Click to expand...

The Walmart's Linux era began when their relationship with Microsoft (corporate, not retail) went to hell in a handbasket.

Back in the days of Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft had convinced the rapidly-growing Walmart to begin moving their operations away from expensive mainframes to the cheap Pentium Pro boxes running the shiny new WinNT 4.0 operating system and NT domains. Needless to say (as we all now know) a gaggle of NT 4.0 boxes was hardly as stable and resilient (or secure) as a slow old mainframe.

Several months on into the transition to NT 4.0, Microsoft's promises weren't measuring up and Walmart wanted out. The acrimony spilled over into the media. Before long Walmart was toying around with Linux in a plot to sell dirt cheap computers (and to stab MS in some way).


 

go-to-dell.jpg




 
So, WM, are you who I think you are - another avatar for the one that already has many? You're style and language lead me to believe that.
 
The laptops I've seen on display at WalMart all have missing keys, due to vandalism. Doesn't lend an air of quality to your product to be displayed like that. I assume that desktops will either suffer the same fate or not be put on display, like their current crop of low-budget desktop pcs. Maybe it's just me, but I like to see what I'm buying when I go into a store.
 
mubs said:
So, WM, are you who I think you are - another avatar for the one that already has many? You're style and language lead me to believe that.
Click to expand...

Yes, you guessed correctly. I am CougTek... Je n'existe pas! and err... Flagreen.

Thanks to your insightfulness Doctor Phibes, the game is finally over for me. :alien:




 
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