The gPC, the computer system with the Google focused gOS operating system that went on sale November 1 at Walmart for $200, has sold out in less than 2 weeks*.
The minimum spec PC has received positive reviews from Walmart customers (here) with plenty of 5 star ratings.
As we noted in our review of gOS November 4, the system may well be a sign of things to come. Rather than offer a desktop app focused OS like Windows, the Ubuntu derivative focuses on a range of Google apps that are accessed by dock based short cuts and presented in Firefox.
At least one punter noted on the Walmart page that the system can be used to run Windows, although he’d be keen running Vista with 512mb of ram. The specs would support XP, although I wouldn’t think many people would buy a system such as this (particularly people who buy computers at Walmart) only to swipe the hard drive and install a copy of Windows. The more likely scenario is that at $200 the computer hits an impulse buying sweet spot; consider that a couple of hundred for many people isn’t a huge ask in an age where computer games cost $100 and where products from Microsoft (such as Office) cost more again. Given the sales success of the gPC expect to see more startups and companies operating in this space. I’d even go as far as suggesting that maybe, after years of promise, Linux desktops might now be poised to go mainstream.
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