Wal-mart drops in-store Linux systems.

He says, "Not what our customers are looking for." OK, makes sense. Look at the average Wally customer. I doubt that they know what Linux is. Yes, you'll get someone like us, or some little hacker kid, but you get more people who are like my parents. They'd look at that and think, "Windows isn't on this, so I'll need to buy and install that, and that's a lot of money and I don't understand all that Vista stuff. It's easier to buy it already installed."

Yes, we know that's ridiculous, but they wouldn't know what Linux is, and that's what they'd think (until they called me and asked). Do you think Wally has anyone working there that could intelligently answer a question, and the consumer could reasonably be confident that the person knew what they were talking about?

that they are pulling them, but I don't think that the big stares should be carrying any computers anyway.
computers should only be available from specialty shops, since there at least it is more likely that the staff will have some knowledge.

I worked at Jamesway [u]before[/u] WalMart moved east of the Mississippi. I'll agree with you; we did the minimum required to keep our jobs.

Interestingly, the Jamesway store I used to work at is now a Tractor Supply, one of the largest I've seen (almost 50k square feet inside).

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamesway

Do they supply pre and post sales technical support on the Windows boxes they sell? Don't think so, yet they still continue to sell them.

All about the numbers. If it isn't making Wallyworld money, they have to stop stocking it. My local wallyworld has more shelf space for cell phone accessories than computers.

James

I'd say it was more the inability to provide pre-purchase guidance than anything.

When a customer points to side-by-side Windows and Linux boxes and asks the clerk in the computer department "What's the difference between these two computers?" and the answer is "I dunno," you're not going to make many sales.

The point is that the general consumer is more comfortable with Windows because they've heard the name everywhere, and probably have used a pc with some flavor on it. Now we can bash Windows all we want, but this isn't about the quality or reliability of the product, it's about familiarity. The average user has most likely never used Linux, let alone heard of it (and if they have they pronounce it Line-ix), and if the sales person can't give them a good sales pitch, they aren't going to buy it.