Everex to launch Linux notebooks under $300 next year

After introducing a US$198 Linux desktop Wednesday, PC vendor Everex said it
will bring Linux laptops under $300 to users next year.

The laptops will come with 12.1-inch to 17-inch screens and run the GOS version
of OS, built on Ubuntu Linux 7.10. It will include icons providing one-click
access to Web sites like Facebook and multiple Google Web applications.

The company also plans to introduce other mobile devices like ultramobile PCs,
said Paul Kim, director of marketing for Everex, a U.S. subsidiary of Taiwanese
firm First International Computer.

The notebooks will be introduced in the first half of next year, Kim said.
The company provided no additional details, other than saying the mobile devices
will be competitively priced.

The energy-efficient $198 Linux desktop from Everex, TC2502 Green gPC, was
introduced in Wal-Mart retail stores Wednesday. It runs on a 1.5GHz Via C7-D
processor and comes with 512M bytes of RAM, an 80G byte hard drive, a DVD player
and an Ethernet port. It does not include a monitor.

"The intent of GOS is to take [Linux] to the consumer and do what Steve
Jobs did with Mac OS X -- to take an alternative OS and package it for the consumer,"
said David Liu, founder of GOS.

Microsoft's Windows Vista OS has done a lot of damage to the low-end PC market,
so there is a great opportunity for a smaller and leaner OS, Liu said. Linux
has come a long way and could grab an audience in the low-end market, Liu said.

More than the OS, for the end user it's more about the ecosystem of applications
that can work, Liu said. GOS bundles applications in a coherent way that makes
the OS easy to use, he said.

However, most people looking to buy a $199 machine will not know Linux, said
David Milman, founder and CEO of Rescuecom Corp., a U.S. firm providing computer
repair and support services.

"I don't see Linux to the masses as anything more than a way to facilitate
Internet access and computing," Milman said. Economically-minded consumers
looking to buy an Internet appliance will find the $198 Linux desktop a reasonable
machine, Milman said.

The Linux desktop doesn't spell the end of Windows, either, Milman said. "Many
people calling Rescuecom [for support] don't know what an OS is," Milman
said. People will try to load Office on the desktop, and when it doesn't load,
they will be disappointed and return the machine. That's going to be a challenge
for Wal-Mart."

Wal-Mart's decision to carry the PC could boost sales of Windows-based PCs
by capturing some mindshare and increasing traffic to the PC sales area, said
Brian Paterson, vice president of marketing for ASI Computer Technologies Inc.,
a computer hardware distributor.

Compared to Windows PCs, previous attempts by Wal-Mart to sell low-cost Linux-based
Lindows and Microtel PCs were failures, Milman said.

Everex studied the Lindows and Microtel PCs and is confident its $198 PC will
succeed. GOS Linux brings familiar Google icons and applications to users, which
earlier PCs didn't have, Everex's Kim said.

With its Google-friendly interface, this PC is a good test for Google OS, if
rumors of one being under development is true, Paterson said. "It's a perfect
way to launch [Google OS] in a mistake-OK world," Paterson said.

The Everex TC2502 Green gPC desktop will be available in about 600 stores on
a test basis, a Wal-Mart spokesperson said in an e-mail statement.

IDG News Service

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