Open source proponents have long theorized that extremely inexpensive PCs running Linux would eventually undercut the lowest possible price for Windows systems. That price may turn out to be $199, as there are now three Linux machines available at that point.

ZDNet discusses the available options in “Five reasons not to fear a $200 Linux PC.”

“At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, small form-factor PC maker Shuttle debuted its $199 KPC… Then last week, Mirus and Linspire collaborated on the Mirus Linux PC, which is now for sale at Sears.com. It’s $299 (although an included $100 rebate brings it to $199), and is preloaded with Freespire 2.0, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution… But the beginning of the low-cost computer trend actually started last fall. The Everex gPC showed up on the shelves of Wal-Mart for $198.”

ZDNet explains that as more applications go online, the operating system shrinks in importance, and the web browser grows. Thus for normal home computer users, Linux serves just as well as Windows, at a far better price. The current surge in extremely inexpensive Linux PCs is just the start, and we should expect to see many more for sale in the near future.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 8:36 am and is filed under GNU/Linux, Open Source. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.