Will we look back on this day and see it as the beginning of the end? Or will it become yet another blip in the endless buzz that accompanies the IT industry?
Tomorrow, Walmart will begin selling a Linux PC for $198, the Everex Green gPC TC2502. The PC is loaded with links to Web 2.0 applications that run in a browser. A GUI desktop showcases icons to these Web apps on the bottom of the screen. The icons link to Google Docs, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, Meebo, Facebok, Wekipedia, among others. Skype and Gimp are also in there. OpenOffice is said to be installed, too, but not represented on the desktop at startup.
Crave.net posted an interesting review of the Everex:
"Isn't that as it should be? An app is an app, so why should users know or care if it's running on their local PC or in the cloud? Unfortunately, using the gPC's Web apps isn't as transparent as we'd like, although that's not Everex's fault. Web apps still run in a browser (and the gPC won't ship with Adobe AIR or another runtime platform that runs online apps in their own windows), so each time a user clicks on one of the icons that's pointing to a URL, it will fire up Firefox or a new tab in it."
Because this product is being sold by Walmart – not some fly-by-night operation that no one has ever heard of (whatever opinion you hold of Walmart, they are NOT a tiny little startup) – it raises the bar for the so-called Web appliance. The idea is that these appliances are so cheap, you can buy one for each of your kids – and maybe even give one 'em to your nieces, nephews, Toys for Tots, if you happen to be the generous type. They cost less than a typical MP3 player.
And THAT means that our kids might be raised on these devices – getting used to their flaws in the same way that today's PC users are used to rebooting after a BSOD or using tricks to find files. And THAT means that when all of those teens raised on Web appliances enter the workforce, their consumer wares will enter the enterprise, too. Consumer driven wares have been the force behind enterprise adoption of wireless LANs, cell phones, the BlackBerry and countless other apps and gizmos. When the masses use it, it comes into the enterprise.
Today, the old timers among us reminisce about our when our DOS/PCs were finally replaced with Windows or when our Apple II machines were replaced with the Macintosh (remember the infamous Superbowl ad?.)
One day, will we reminisce about proprietary OS PCs? A day long after they are replaced by Web appliances?
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The OS still has to be managed for patches, etc
And this will continue for a very long time. In fact, kids love using differnet flavors of OS so I think if anything they getting further away from acceptance of appliances every day.