[FoRK] Really cheap computers

[Jeff Bone]

On May 8, 2008, at 4:14 PM, Tom Higgins wrote:
> So its a devices to push ads onto the screens of folks who want the
> intertubes but not have to deal with like all that messy like  
> comupter stuff
> like ewwww.
>
> I thouhgt  this is what apple is supposed to be for..
>
> Ok so this is a dumb terminal hooked to thier servers to feed you  
> the raft
> of google apps....yeah see then there is the whole no movies no cds
> thing..hmm.
>
> So dumb terminal with google apps back end and ads...set top boxes  
> are back?
> Wohoo welcome to 1997. Can we get a version with MS Bob on it?
>
> yeesh.
>
> Freaking heck, and emachine (about 200-300 from frys on a good week)  
> with
> something like Gos on em (there are some set up as such from Walmart  
> if I am
> not mistaken) and your don. Factor in the monehly costs of service  
> from
> numbnuts...er nimbus...and you have hit the TCO in short order.
>
> Practicing what I preach I am probably goign to set up a box for my  
> mom (67
> years old and has hardly ever touched a modern computer) with Gos on  
> it. I
> was toying with doing a stripped down ubuntu box with lots of prisms  
> on the
> desktop, but this might be more fun.
>
> Still gotta check the legals and tos on Gos.
>
> Now to find the time.

Heh, Tom, you and I think just alike sometimes, we just come to  
different conclusions.  "Now to find the time" is exactly the  
problem.  I bought my folks a Mac a couple of years back to minimize  
the ongoing maintenance overhead.  (Despite not having messed with  
Windows in years, I was the on-call sysadmin;  and that stings even  
worse when you've managed to completely expunge M$ from your life  
otherwise.)

Had this been available then, it might have been a reasonable  
contender in my decision.  Really, they don't need anything else ---  
they listen to CDs in the CD player, watch movies on the DVD in the  
living room, etc., just do e-mail and web stuff and occasional docs on  
the 'puter --- and if I'm not willing to do Linux admin for myself  
(much less Windows) I sure as hell wouldn't want to try to deal with  
*that* remotely.

I wonder how this thing performs, though.

jb