Interview with the founder of gOS -- the Linux that runs Wal-Mart's $199 PC
Bloggers are starting to write quickly and furiously about gOS and the $199 PC the new, Google-heavy Linux distro runs on. I happen to think it's the product of the year.
First, Desktop Linux talks about it:
While Google does not have a formal partnership with either Everex or gOS, the search giant did see gOS before it was shipped. Google then approved Everex to bundle its Google toolbar with gOS' browser.
With this in mind, the gOS applications are set to work with Google from the get-go. For example, clicking on the e-mail icon takes you to Gmail, the news icon sends you off to Google News, and the calendar "application" is Google Calendar. Even when there's a choice of programs, such as OpenOffice for word processing and spreadsheets, gOS defaults to using Google Docs and Spreadsheets. Most of the commonly used applications are made available to users via a Mac OS-like dock at the bottom of the screen.
This is a Linux that's designed with several specific purposes in mind. First, it's not just built around Google; it's built on Web 2.0 applications and the Internet. Next, it works with low-end hardware. This may be the first PC where a high-speed Internet connection is more important to its performance than a high-speed processor.
And Desktop Linux linked over to this interview with the founder of gOS, David Liu. Here's the first question:
Using Web 2.0 applications to form the core of an operating system is genius. When did you realize this it was possible?
Well, I guess a couple things happened… I got interested in Google applications, especially docs and spreadsheets, presentations; and originally, I wanted to create my idea of what a Google OS would look like.. if there were such a mythical OS. As I started looking around at all the Google applications out there, I realized that all of our “computing” could eventually be done in the Google cloud. We just needed an OS that looked really good and pointed people to Google in a really friendly, intelligent way. After seeing this, I got excited because I saw it was also commercially viable for the mainstream end user… Google makes Linux familiar.
Comments
"I happen to think it's the product of the year."
Hmm. Is it good because of:
a) The box
b) The distro
c) The fact that Walmart are selling Linux; or
d) All (or most) of these ?
For $199.97 (Canadian) you can get an Ubuntu Computer from http://www.thelinuxstore.ca/index.php?currency=USD&main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=1431
The GOS motherboard and CPU can be bought separately for just under $60. For just over $60 you can get an Intel motherboard and CPU at http://www.buy.com/prod/intel-d201gly-desktop-board-celeron-sis-sis662-socket-479-533mhz-fsb/q/loc/101/204887385.html
There is nothing in the distro which is unique and cannot be added to another distro if required.
Posted by: Alan Rochester | November 15, 2007 10:29 AM
I didn't know about the Linux Store computer. Even Mad Tux (http://store.madtux.org/index.php?cPath=57) doesn't give you a deal that good.
This ZDNet article says the VIA board is a direct response to the Intel board: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=855
The distro is unique, because even though anybody else CAN do it, they haven't. The tight integration with Google looks to me like the Google OS that has been rumored about for months now. Google could "adopt" this project, buy the whole damn Everex company ... or develop their own OS bundle now that somebody else has floated this trial balloon.
I don't know whether or not it's "good" that Wal-Mart is selling it, but it's good -- and hugely significant -- that it's being sold by one of the world's biggest retailers to normal (read: nongeek) people who have never heard of Linux. That is HUGE.
Posted by: Steven Rosenberg | November 15, 2007 3:28 PM