Intersting news but ultimately a flawed business idea for Walmart. This is a
step backward into nostalgia land. What the world needs is a PDA-ish
computer that can be bought for less than $300; that HAS way more computing
power than an AMD 486 clone at 100 Mhz.  I want my sub $ 300 PDA to run on
either a Pentium III or the latest PowerPC chip at a velocity of around 500
Mhz. How is Walmart gonna get Communicator to run  on their variation on a
C64+ ? BTW is there a GEOS port for Squeak ?
-Russ
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Wart <swart at home.com>
To: Squeak List <squeak at cs.uiuc.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 23, 1999 9:15 PM
Subject: GEOS Lives


>
> Here is an interesting story that did not get its deserved notice on this
> list. (WalMart has announced that it will be shipping GEOS-based 100 MHz
AMD
> 486 PCs in 3 test markets).
>
> http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2315355,00.html
>
> Not that I know beans about GEOS, but it makes for another point of
> confusion in the MS-Linux controversy :-)
>
> In all the talk about porting Squeak to PDAs, a 100Mhz 486 sounds almost
> easy. OTOH, I think it likely that Wal-mart will ultimately offer a faster
> machine, or perhaps back away from GEOS in favor of WinCE or something
> equally ludicruous.
>
> Compared to what you can get for $300, it sounds like they are trying to
> buck the trend to low margins in the PC industry.
>
> Steve
>