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Written by Stew
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Friday, 28 December 2007 |
 The gPC is back in wal-Mart and selling like hot-cross buns but not every one is impressed with Everex's new cloud computer. PC Mag published this review earlier this month and it was far from complimentary. Having used the gOS here in the office for a while I have to say that I disagree with the stance taken by Mr Domingo, and it would seem from the comments of engadget that I'm not alone. I don't want to openly attack the review itself but would like to simply offer an alternative perspective.
Let's take a view of the Everex gPC relative to it's position in the market and its target consumer. Let's assume then that the gPC is designed to work as an web-appliance for people who know little or nothing about computers and simply want to access certain web-based services. As Google is a current leader in these online services the developers of the gOS decided to make these (largely but not exclusively) Google based services the central focus of the OS. I use the word 'appliance' here because there is a certain segment of todays consumer base that simple want the PC to work like an everyday appliance. i.e. like a microwave or a t.v. And this segment is huge. They simply want to turn on the machine and do their(online) stuff.
This is what the gPC is all about. Simplicity. Do you have to make sure you have the latest updates for the OS? No. Antivirus? No. Anti-Spyware? No. Install software? No.
The review mentioned the absence of flash player and while using the gOS, I also wondered why the Firefox browser that is pre-installed in gOS didn't have the flash player plugin pre-installed. I scratched my head and pondered the reasoning behind this. I concluded that perhaps Adobe simply don't want their products being bundled in this way. Perhaps. That would be Adobe's prerogative and it wouldn't surprise me if this was the case.
Flash player aside. I could see no other problems with the out-of-the-box configuration. And let's remember that the entire gOS is open source (Ubuntu) based. If its not quite perfect (like those other popular and 'perfect' OSes that we're used to) then we should remember that it's still a work in progress and actually represents an incredible achievement in itself - a Linux-based entry level consumer operating system. Wow!! 5 years ago people would have had me certified to have even dreamed such a thing. Excuse the pun.
Which brings me to price. How can Everex make a profit selling a $200 PC? Well, I presume they do. Let's look at alternatives. Most popular mainstream operating systems (and let's face it there aren't too many of them) would set you back between $150 and $250. Without getting into the relative merits of these popular software products, it's clear that it would be next to impossible to sell a full PC (sans monitor) for $199 using these products.
To compare the gOS with a mainstream consumer product is clearly misleading. The affordability of the gPC is clearly related to its operating system - therefore the operating system must seen in context. i.e. Free. I've also used Ubuntu and it's true that Ubuntu is way more user friendly than it used to be, I must disagree with the reviewer and say that it is still some way off being an entry level consumer OS. gOS is way easier, if not quite perfect.
I used the gPC here in the office for a week or so and found it be more than capable of doing the things that it is designed to do. I'm a power user and an occasional gamer so I'm certainly not what Everex is aiming for as a customer.
Put another way, I'm the kind of guy who reads PC Magazine. The target consumer for gPC isn't! Perhaps that is the real essence of the issue.
The PC as we know it is evolving. The internet has become integrated into our lives to the point where there is a segment of society that will be delighted find a product that allows them to do what they want online for under 200 bucks. And I'm sure that this segment of society finds PC reviews, in general, irrelevant.
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Supported by:
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Sascha
Friday, 28 December 2007
Welcome to the weird world of the PCMag
My favorite parts of the review are:
"The bottom line is that Flash-based sites such as YouTube, Disney.com, and portions of MySpace.com would not be viewable by a gPC user without installing Flash."
Ever saw a Mac or PC with preinstalled Flash, Joel? Damn thats pretty lame to list this as a disadvantage.
"Ethernet "Internet Connection Required." Modem is nonfunctional (for now)."
Welcome to the 21st century! Who is using a modem in these days? and if you want one, well buy one fur 10 bucks!
But here is the best one:
"Programs written for Mac or Windows will not run."
And this guy is getting paid for this? omg!
Cheers,
Sascha
Visitor
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Well, that's generalistic magazines for you: anything that doesn't run Vista is crap.