I just learned that Wal-Mart has been selling a Linux PC for $199. From the customer reviews on Wal-Mart's website, it looks like people generally like it, even though it is apparent that some are buying it and loading it with a Microsoft Windows Operating System. For someone who just needs internet access and word processing, this is a great option. Given the Open Source options for software, there really isn't much of a need for anything Microsoft produces any more. For example, if you are using Internet Explorer 7, then you just don't know how much better your world could be by simply switching to Fire Fox. IE 7 is an unmitigated piece of crap. I'm appalled that it ever even got released. Office 2007 is generally pretty good, but it's performance is unimpressive. I'd be happy to use Open Office in its stead, but for compatibility with my school, I decided to just go with the flow. Luckily, when I bought my new ThinkPad T61 last summer, I decided to stick with Office XP. Given the comments I've heard about Vista, I'm glad I did. The one thing that will likely always keep me on a Microsoft Operating System, however, is simply the availability of 3rd party software, especially Microsoft Flight Simulator. In other words, I don't continue to us MS OS's because I like the product, but because I like other products that only work on MS OS's.
So, kudos to Wal-Mart for offering such a product. It will be interesting to see how the product does for them, and it is a great stride for the Linux community.
--Chris