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Walmart.com Offers a New Linux PC

Microtel PC features SuSE OS and OpenOffice suite.

John Blau, IDG News Service

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PC shoppers visiting Wal-Mart Stores' online shop will find a new PC on offer with a bundle of preloaded open source software products from SuSE Linux.

SuSE has teamed with Microtel Computer Systems to offer a range of PCs preloaded with SuSE's 8.2 operating system software and numerous other office and entertainment applications, the Nuremberg, Germany, software vendor said in a statement Monday.

This new offer from Wal-Mart comes on top of another announced earlier this year between Microtel and Lindows.com.

Price Point

Prices for the computers start at $298. The products are immediately available on the U.S. retailer's Web site at WalMart.com.

"In addition to the Linux operating system, our 8.2 professional package includes numerous other open source-based office, games, image processing, and Internet applications," said SuSE company spokesperson Christian Egle.

For instance, the package offers the OpenOffice.org application suite, which is compatible with Microsoft's Office product, and a range of browsers, including Netscape Navigator, Mozilla, and Konqueror, according to the statement.

Teaming Up

For SuSE, this is a first not only with Microtel, which designs, manufacturers, and customizes computers, but also with Wal-Mart, one of the biggest retailers in the U.S., Egle said. "The deal with Wal-Mart is very important to us because it opens the door to the huge U.S. consumer market," he said.

Whether SuSE and Wal-Mart will extend their U.S. partnership to Europe remains to be seen, Egle said. "We are very interested in cooperating with Wal-Mart wherever the company is located but the plan for now is to see how sales develop in the U.S. before we make any decisions about expanding in Europe."

In April, SuSE teamed with Vobis Microcomputer in Aachen, Germany, to launch a range of PCs with preloaded open source software in the German speaking regions of Europe, Egle said.

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