Google Powered PC

[img]http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u139/gtroyal/gods.png[/img] Remember the (near) free PC surfing companies back in the 2000s, Netzero, Spinway, Altavista and others. Essentially their model was that the consumer could surf the net if they agree to watch or participate in advertising. This was the first attempt at advertising supported internet and it was a bomb. Chiefly the reason was that their was not enough people interested in a poor user experience even if it was free. Secondly the people who advertisers wanted (ie with disposable income) were quite happy to pay the $20+ month to get a good internet experience (another idea that was cooked up by inexperienced MBAs). However the concept maybe back with the gPC from Everex Computing. Using off-the-shelf Ubuntu derivative called gOS and a host of Google Apps, the Desktop is set up automagically to use Google components and drive revenue courtesy of Google ads etc etc. The trick here is that the experience is similar to what you get from using Google now so there is not that ghetto experience of the earlier iterations of this model. What this does mean is more PCs in the christmas stocking as well as more innovative bundles with maybe ISPs involved. Look for more initiatives in the future from Google just like this partnership.You can read more here.