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Didn’t see this one coming

Wal-Mart recently partnered with an open source company in order to produce an extremely cheap, Linux-based desktop computer for its stores. Apparently the thing has already sold out:

About a week ago Wal-Mart began selling a $200 Linux machine running on a 1.5 ghz VIA C7 processor and 512 MB of RAM. While the specs are useless for Vista, it works blazingly fast on Ubuntu with the Enlightenment Window Manager. The machine is now officially sold out of their online warehouses (it may still be available in some stores). And the product sales page [CC] at wal-mart.com is full of glowing reviews from new and old Linux users alike.

I suppose this is a good time to mention that I’ve gotten an e-mail from the chaps at OLPC, saying that the Give One, Get One program is officially underway, as of yesterday. I still haven’t decided whether I can afford to drop a chunk of change on this, but it’s really important to me to have one.

Hopefully the OLPC is as successful as this Wal-Mart contraption.

“Contraption” is the word of the week.