14 DAY TRIAL // As the "back to school" season approaches, Wal-Mart decided to sell a computer system designed by Everex( the Everex IMPACT GC3502) that combines three of the most popular IT trends: open source software, high power efficiency and a total lack of "bloat ware". The Everex-built computer uses the Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic operating system, but instead of the Microsoft's Office suite for word processing and spreadsheets, it comes with the free and open source OpenOffice version 2.2.
The hardware is pretty low-end but that has to be expected from such a cheap computer; however, that doesn't really matter, as it will get the job done for students. The system includes a 1.5GHz VIA C7 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 memory, an 80Gb hard disk drive, a DVD burner, integrated graphics and the usual keyboard, mouse and speakers. The Everex machine will be sold by Wal-Mart in the same time period as the low cost Dell Dimension E521 for $498 alone or bundled with a 19 inch LCD monitor and a faster Athlon 64 X2 CPU for $698. Because the Everex systems include OpenOffice and not the non-free Microsoft Office, it allowed its producer to cut the final price more and have a truly low cost PC.
"In creating the eco-friendly GC3602, our main focus was to build a no-compromise, back-to-school PC with all the software applications a typical student would require, without resorting to bundling frivolous trial versions or increasing prices 30 percent," said Everex product manager Eugene Chang as cited by the news site Ars Technica. Dell also hopes to attract new customers as all its systems come free of the trial softwares that most users find extremely annoying.
"It's not surprising that Wal-Mart, of all retailers, will sell the $298 Everex desktop; it's a good marriage with their biggest audience -- budget buyers," said Toni DuBoise, a senior analyst with Current Analysis West. "But it has a couple of problems; one is that it uses a Via processor, which is almost unknown to U.S. consumers. And it runs at just 1.5 GHz, so it's unknown how it will handle Microsoft Vista," she said. "And running OpenOffice is kind of a unique tactic. It's anti-Microsoft as Microsoft obviously owns the market for productivity software. So users may have some concerns about compatibility."