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IBM Hardware

Free IBM Computers For UK Households 365

Posted by timothy from the always-a-catch dept.
Albanach writes "The Scotland on Sunday newspaper is reporting that UK firm Metronomy are offering 200,000 IBM PCs free of charge to UK households. Of course, there is a catch - advertising. Accepting the terms and conditions will get users a free IBM PC running Windows XP, but they will also be required to watch three minutes of TV style advertising for every hour of computer use and undertake to use the PC for a minimum of 30 hours per month."
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Free IBM Computers For UK Households More

Free IBM Computers For UK Households

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  • doomed to fail? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gooru ( 592512 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:39AM (#7723201)
    Didn't a failed experiment like this happen in the U.S. already? This reminds me of all the free ISPs that used to exist for a brief time that are now all defunct or for pay.

    • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:5, Informative)

      by ameoba ( 173803 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:41AM (#7723210)
      You're probably thinking of PeoplePC [peoplepc.com].

      • FreePC.com got me a free computer (Score:5, Insightful)

        by jtheory ( 626492 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @12:38PM (#7725427) Homepage Journal
        There were a couple of companies that tried this. I got a free computer through FreePC.com back in '99.

        I had just gotten out of college and had no computer at the time (and was pretty broke)... plus I had a strong suspicion that the company would go out of business... so I signed up on FreePC.com and got a free Compaq Presario.

        Not a great computer, mind you -- 32 meg ram, 2 gig harddrive (I think.. maybe 1.5), 333 mhz cyrix processor, win 98, dial-up internet access included. But I added another 56mb RAM to make it useable and used a shareware tool called WinSniper to hide the ad windows (which were in a border around the screen, at all times). I still didn't have the whole screen to work on, which was unfortunate, but I didn't want to disable the software altogether, since it reported back to their site when I logged onto the internet.

        So it was a subpar experience... but after a few months the company folded (as I had expected), I removed their software, and that was my computer for a year or two. Now it's retired. I keep meaning to install some variant of Linux on it, but never quite get around to it.

        Anyway, this British program sounds like a similar scheme... I'm hoping they did a lot of research into why their predecessors failed so miserably before they launched this company. Yes, computers are cheap, but you need to get a lot of ad revenue to cover salaries for all the *support* personnel you will need. Plus, the demographics they're hitting are all bass-ackwards; advertisers want to pitch to people who are ready to *spend* money on new stuff... NOT people who are willing to suffer just so they can *avoid* paying a few hundred bucks for an inexpensive computer. Think about it.

        --
        This stare intentionally left blank.

    • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:5, Informative)

      by ron_ivi ( 607351 ) <sdotno@cheapcomp ... s.com minus poet> on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:53AM (#7723262)
      Sounds like old news to me... Here's an article from the good old .com days.

      Free PCs, but not a free lunch [cnn.com]: "Free-PC.com of Pasadena, California, plans to give away 10,000 Compaq ".

    • ... but aparently some managers at IBM can't.

      This is the most retarded idea I've heard in a long time. It escapes me how can someone with half a brain doubt this is not going to flop. I can't wait until they launch it, fail miserably and then some genius manager including in his insightful book about the dot-com economy as he was discovering something.

    • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Znork ( 31774 )
      Well, a thing or two could be said about the value of the demographic group 'people without enough disposable income to buy a cheap PC'.

      • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Dylan2000 ( 592069 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @06:38AM (#7723423) Homepage
        What does a cheap PC cost? $299? $200? If I offered you $200 would you take it? I hope you would.

        These PCs are not for /. readers, they're not for our parents either. These are for people who know *nobody* who knows about computers. All they know is that it's 2003 and everybody is supposed to have a computer in their home. And this one is free. It's like a free gift of $200. And they have to watch some ads. For you and me that's a dealbreaker but not for some people.

        Get off your high horse. Some people *like* the idea of a free couple of hundred dollars. It's nice that you don't but don't condemn other people for liking free money.

        • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Znork ( 31774 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @07:21AM (#7723540)
          "It's nice that you don't but don't condemn other people for liking free money."

          I dont. However, the advertising has to be paid for or the company making the offer will go bust. Would you spend your advertising budget trying to sell your products to people who cant spend $200 on a PC, or would you spend your advertising budget on some demographic that may have more disposable money that they can spend on buying your products?

          It's a good deal. For the recepients of the computers. But they're not the ones who will be paying for the PC's. So, how are they going to sell it to those who will be paying for it?

          It's not about wether or not I'd take your $200, it's about wether or not you're going to give it away. Are you?

          • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:5, Insightful)

            by stephenbooth ( 172227 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @07:46AM (#7723609) Homepage Journal
            Would you spend your advertising budget trying to sell your products to people who cant spend $200 on a PC

            Depends on what you're advertising. If you're selling luxury cars or high end home cinema systems then probably not. If you're selling soap powder, high interest loans for people with debt problems or tins of baked beans then probably you would. Also bear in mind that there will probably be some sort of spyware either in the PCs or in the adverts themselves that will allow the people sending the ads out to target the ads. If they see someone searching the web for bridging loans then their next ad break will probably contain at least one ad for a finance comapny or a debt councelling service, if they spend at lot of time on the Autotrader web site then their next ad break will have an advert for "Yes! Car Credit". A targeted and well defined audience for your ads, being able to get your ad infront of people who you already know are interested in your product, is a total dream for advertisers.

            Stephen

            • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:3, Insightful)

              by Znork ( 31774 )
              "A targeted and well defined audience for your ads, being able to get your ad infront of people who you already know are interested in your product, is a total dream for advertisers."

              A targeted and well defined audience with money is a total dream for advertisers.

              Unfortunately. Else, we would be able to pay homeless for watching commercials for houses, unemployed for watching commercials for headhunters and we could feed large parts of the continent of africa by showing 'round the clock advertising for fo

              • If the demographic group has little disposable income, advertising time with that demographic just isnt worth very much.

                If your principle product is something that forms part of many people's non-disposable income spend (e.g. soap powder, basic food stuffs &c) then getting them to spend that part of their income on your products rather than on you competitor's can be worth quite a bit. Also I wouldn't be suprised if the adverts turned out to include ads for products which are restricted in the sort

              • "If the demographic group has little disposable income, advertising time with that demographic just isnt worth very much."

                What about ads for cigarette and scratch tickets? People with nearly no income seem to gravitate towards these products.

          • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by PReDiToR ( 687141 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @08:25AM (#7723732) Homepage Journal
            To be fair, who cares if it works or not?

            Surely it would be better for all people on the planet if cheap, crap, untargeted advertising was proven to be ineffective and all businesses that develop sub standard advertising techniques were to flop without mercy?

            Since when did business care in the least about writing off a few hundred thousand dollars? This could be a tax writeoff for all we know.

        • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Dogtanian ( 588974 )
          Some people *like* the idea of a free couple of hundred dollars. It's nice that you don't but don't condemn other people for liking free money...... And this one is free. It's like a free gift of $200. And they have to watch some ads.

          Well, it's not free then. They get a computer in return for watching some ads. You can say that's an excellent deal and you may well be right, but it's not free.

          Fact is, most "free" gifts aren't free at all, because you have to do something non-trivial to get them; often i

          • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:5, Insightful)

            by stephenbooth ( 172227 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @07:37AM (#7723591) Homepage Journal
            They get a computer in return for watching some ads.

            In much the same way that they get TV shows in return for those shows being periodically interrupted by advertisements.

            Stephen

            • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:3, Informative)

              by bryhhh ( 317224 )
              In much the same way that they get TV shows in return for those shows being periodically interrupted by advertisements.

              I paid for my TV set, I paid for my Satelite decoder. I pay a monthly subscription to recieve digital television broadcasts, I pay for terrestrial TV license (Yes, I live in the UK), Yet i still get adverts.

              However as I own a TiVo, I never actually watch them.

    • Re:doomed to fail? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Haeleth ( 414428 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @08:07AM (#7723668) Journal
      Didn't a failed experiment like this happen in the U.S. already? This reminds me of all the free ISPs that used to exist for a brief time that are now all defunct or for pay.

      What, like ConnectFree [connectfree.co.uk] and UK2 [adial.co.uk]? Maybe all the free ISPs in the USA died or started charging, I have no idea, but here in the UK they're alive and well.

      In other words, what happened in America is no guide to what will happen here.

  • Installing Linux... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Tet ( 2721 ) * <slashdot AT astradyne DOT co DOT uk> on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:39AM (#7723203) Homepage Journal
    There don't appear to be any technological barriers to just accepting the PC and reintalling the OS with something sane. Contractually, however, you're agreeing to watch the ads, so if you're not doing so, I suspect they'll just come and take the PC back. Also note that the PC remains the property of Metronomy, and is loaned to the end user for a 3 year period, thus they're well within their rights to just end the loan period early.

    • I'm sure they've thought of that (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ciaran_o_riordan ( 662132 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:54AM (#7723270) Homepage
      c'mon, do you really think they won't have thought of that?

      What displays the ads? software. What else does the software do?, well, it probably sends signals over the Internet. So if the signals aren't sent, there's something wrong, and they take the PC back.

      Also, how else would they enforce a 30-hour per month minimum?

      Now. What else do the ad software transmit...
      • You would have thought so... but here are their TOC:

        The following 5 key terms and conditions are for your guidance only, and do not constitute a legally binding agreement. Before delivery, you will be required to complete a written agreement, either by post or online.

        1) On screen advertising: In exchange for your free PC, you must accept up to 3 minutes of on-screen advertising per hour of PC use. Every month, you will receive a cd containing adverts to be shown over the following four weeks. Each disc m

        • did you read your post? (Score:4, Interesting)

          by ciaran_o_riordan ( 662132 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @06:09AM (#7723348) Homepage
          > I don't see anything limiting me to installing my own OS

          Terms of conditions:
          > "Every month, you will receive a cd containing adverts to be
          > shown over the following four weeks. Each disc must be
          > loaded onto your PC for the system to update. Should you
          > fail to do this, your PC will be disabled."

          So, if you understand what you wrote, are you suggesting that they'll ship a GNU/Linux version of their ad software?

          Also, the terms and conditions say that you must connect to the internet at least once per month. Obviously this is so that some piece of software can transmit data to verify that you've installed your ads etc. Will this software be available for GNU/Linux? hey, maybe it will even be Free Software. no.

          • Re:did you read your post? (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Deusy ( 455433 ) <.gro.ixev. .ta. .eilrahc.> on Monday December 15, 2003 @06:29AM (#7723406) Homepage
            So, if you understand what you wrote, are you suggesting that they'll ship a GNU/Linux version of their ad software?

            Yes, I read my post you dingbat.

            No, they won't be shipping a GNU/Linux versoin of their ad software. Yes, I can still 'load' it onto my PC to adhere to their TOCs. Just copy it over to my HD.

            Or I could keep WinXP on a partition and boot that once a month although that's less preferrable than the first option.

            Or I could hit the middleground by using WINE.

            Also, the terms and conditions say that you must connect to the internet at least once per month. Obviously this is so that some piece of software can transmit data to verify that you've installed your ads etc. Will this software be available for GNU/Linux?

            Who cares? Their TOCs don't stipulate, "You must be on the Internet so our software can register each month." Nor does it say, "You must use the preinstalled operating system." It simply says, "You must be connected to the Internet once a month." I can do that. So what if their software doesn't fire? It's no concern of mine.
            • The post you ariginally put said that you would have to sign an agreement later and this will almost certainly have lots more conditions saying that you have to be using their software for function. It might not specify that you can't install another OS (most people still think computer and windows are synonymous (sp?)) but it will (probably) say that the user cannot take any action to modify the function of the computer that prevents the adds from running once every hour of use (or something to that effect
            • Those ToCs dont. However;

              Before delivery, you will be required to complete a written agreement, either by post or online.

              Those ones will. There will be no free lunch.
          • Perhaps you could "watch" the ads in a minimized vmware window ;-)

            Stefan
        • 4) The PC must be connected to the internet at least once a month, and you must maintain an ISP dial-up account throughout the term of the agreement.
          I don't see anything limiting me to installing my own OS. Sure, I'll copy over their monthly CD. It'll do nothing to my Gentoo install but so what?

          It requires a monthly net connection, a phone-home function, or the reverse when it collects some key to keep the PC active for another month; also this will be somehow contingent on you actually consuming the ad

        • Point 1:

          On screen advertising: In exchange for your free PC, you must accept up to 3 minutes of on-screen advertising per hour of PC use.

          By installing Gentoo over the top, you're removing your ability to comply with that clause, as you won't be able to view the advertising (or at least, not in a manner that will confirm your viewing of it to them). You will, therefore, be in breach of the terms of the agreement, and they'll come take the PC back.
      • But what stops me from installing that software on the old Pentium 2 266 and loading Debian on the new computer?

        With some remote controlling I could "use" the PC 30-hour per month...

    • Contractually, however, you're agreeing to watch the ads, so if you're not doing so, I suspect they'll just come and take the PC back.

      The may sa in contract that the user must watch TV ads, but they cannot control if the user really watchs or not. So what they really mean is to run the program that shows TV ads.

      So, no problem for Linux, just run the program in Wine in a minimized window.

      Well, unless they want you to remember those TV ads and later answer test questions. But again, the contract says: w

  • This didnt work for Netzero (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RedHatLinux ( 453603 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:41AM (#7723207) Homepage
    and it wont work for IBM.

    Personally, I am cool with advertisements in the middle of things I do passively ... like watching TV.

    But when I engage in an active action like writing a paper or reading, advertising gets blocked or at best ignored totally

    Given the low prices of PCs and concerns over privacy how many people are actually going to take up this offer?

  • Privacy? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by xeno_gearz ( 533872 ) * on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:41AM (#7723208) Journal
    Certainly not groundbreaking, "In a move that will send shivers through the PC manufacturing and retailing sectors"
    This seems awfully similar to the Free-PC [com.com] campaign ran years ago.

    Perhaps IBM can subsidize such a business model. As annoying as the advertising could be, I certainly would be interested in a free PC.

    The disconcerting part of the article is the data-mining, however. The article claims that the personal information is confidential but it still makes me feel wary.

    I'm curious as to what the specs on these machines are. It would have to be a damn good machine for me to consider such intrusive advertising practices. I recognize that, however is not likely.

    • Re:Privacy? (Score:2, Informative)

      by zebadee ( 551743 )
      On the web site it gives you the minimum specs as:-
      Intel Celeron 2.4ghz
      256Mb RAM
      40Gb Hard Drive
      Intel Extreme 64Mb onboard Graphics
      DVD Rom
      56K modem
      Integrated Audio
      Infinity Ext Speakers
      Microsoft XP Home pre-installed
      IBM E54 15" CRT Monitor
      Includes Full 3 year IBM warranty
    • I assume the ads mean it isn't feasible to watch DVDs (or movie files) or listen to music or play games, so that's 99.9% of a Windows PC's functions (for me) removed.

  • How long till it gets hacked? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rokzy ( 687636 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:41AM (#7723212)
    or... why watch?

    nice reminder to take a break - go the toliet, don't get headaches, don't get carpal tunnel syndrome.
    • > How long till it gets hacked?

      There will be a deposit, or something that you lose if you tamper with it. Or if they implement (even a simple) electronic protection mechanism, it would be a violation of copyright to circumvent it. (due to the recent implementation of the EUCD.)

      > why watch?

      Why do some slashdotters think that the product development team will never think of an idea that they thought of after 20 seconds?

      You'll have to constantly click through the ads or something. And it comes wit

  • Minimum Amount of Advertising (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Valen0 ( 325388 ) <michael.elvenstar@tv> on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:42AM (#7723214)
    In order to get this PC, you would have to watch 90 minutes (1 and 1/2 hours) minimum of advertising each month. I am not sure the PC is worth sitting through that amount of advertising.
    • "The only catch is that users will be subjected to one minute of TV-style ads coming on to their screens every 20 minutes. If the user wishes, the ad break can be delayed by a maximum of five minutes to allow completion of another operation such as a secure online purchase of an airline ticket."

      this is very annoying. 3 mins at once every hour is fine, but every 20 mins would be quite nagging.
      • Oh, dont worry, if the user cant afford a PC it's not like he's likely to be interrupted while doing secure online purchases of airline tickets either.

        • Re:Minimum Amount of Advertising (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Zocalo ( 252965 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @07:07AM (#7723499) Homepage
          And there-in is why this idea is doomed to fail. The only people who would need to take advantage of this kind of idea are those who are living on the financial edge. They might watch adverts for cheap flights, cars or whatever, but in reality they won't be buying too many of them. I think that someone might be seriously over-estimating the kind of advertising revenue this kind of demographic is going to attact.
          • And another contradiction: If you are using your PC for more than 30 hours a month, you are a geek (30 hours is about the break-even point where broadband becomes cheaper than dialup, here in Europe where dialup is metered, and broadband isn't). Sorry, most non-geeks might use their PC 1 or 2 hours on a weekend, but prefer to spend the rest of their time at other occupations.

            Ok, so only geeks would use this. But which self-respecting geek would tolerate these forced ad-breaks. Either the geek is smart enou

            • Not quite accurate anymore.
              here in Europe where dialup is metered, and broadband isn't

              Unmetered dialup has been the norm for 5 years now, anyone who charges by-the-minute is in a minority, or offers it alongside their primary ISP payment program.

  • *stares at OSDL ads* (Score:4, Funny)

    by Dark Lord Seth ( 584963 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:47AM (#7723236) Journal

    I get to deal with 12+ hours of watching advertisements per month on my NON-FREE, PAID computer already. Go figure.

  • It'll be interesting (okay, disturbing) when somebody decides to do this with a trusted BIOS.

    Perhaps there will be no installing linux, no piracy, no avoiding your ad-watching duty, no viruses, no freedom... And probably no desire for the masses to change because "we already HAVE a computer".

  • PC Worth 800?! Hardly! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:48AM (#7723240)
    IBM Thinkcentre 411 inc vat [ibm.com]

    You just need to look at IBM's own website to realise that a same spec PC is 411inc vat - nowhere near the 800 this news article is claiming it's worth!!

    • Re:PC Worth 800?! Hardly! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rf0 ( 159958 ) *
      I agree its not worth that much but I think those prices don't include a monitor but that would still be only 500. Of course there is a P4 2.6Ghz which is 800 which is what they might of picked up.

      Rus

  • how to circumvent (Score:3, Funny)

    by Barbarian ( 9467 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:48AM (#7723242)
    1) Get the computer.
    2) Reverse-engineer the network traffic.
    3) Setup old 486 to simulate the PC receiving ads and simulate user activity.
    4) Reinstall OS
    5) ???
    6) Profit!

  • Bubble again? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jmerelo ( 216716 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:48AM (#7723243) Homepage Journal
    Is it just me, or are dotcom bubble things back in fashion?
    This was back in '99 [wired.com]

  • A DRM system may be able to enforce this in most cases, but the techno-literate will bypass it.

    Maybe it's going to be enforced differently, though. Perhaps each time you watch an advertisement you will have to take down a code, or connect to a remote server - if you don't submit the code or the server doesn't record your view, somebody will physically come and take the computer away (and kill your pets).

  • Flashback to 1999! Do they have no business model and a recent IPO that went up by 280% on the first day of trading too?

  • The specs of the PCs (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    the inquirer has the specs [theinquirer.net]
    • On the bright side, if they really are "TV style" ads, that means the box has reasonable multimedia capabilities and should be up to a game of Quake 3. Mind you, imagine the adware dialog popping up and defocusing the Quake window when you're 1 frag from winning q3dm17 :-( I think it's going to be a loser.
  • 3 minutes of ads every 30 minutes, Guesstimating off the length of shows on dvd, there's around 10 minutes of ads in every 1/2 hour of tv.

    On the other hand it might not be too favourable to those people who pay $/megabyte for their internet connection.

  • A sneaky way to avoid the advertising. (Score:5, Funny)

    by peterpi ( 585134 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:53AM (#7723265)
    Don't tell anybody, but when the adverts start, I'm going to CLOSE MY EYES! heheheee!

  • 1. Watch Ad's for x min's
    2. Shutdown, Switch-Off & Switch Hard Disks
    3. Boot OS of Choice
    4. Enjoy Usage Freedom

  • This is DOOMED (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nnnneedles ( 216864 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:57AM (#7723286)
    There have been so many similar things, free ISP, even free telephony, paid by advertisement interruptions.

    It always fails. Why?

    Because it makes you feel like Alex in Clockwork Orange being force-fed evil media!

    Right, right?

  • How could this be hacked? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Sensitive Claude ( 709959 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @05:59AM (#7723299) Homepage Journal
    they will also be required to watch three minutes of TV style advertising for every hour of computer use and undertake to use the PC for a minimum of 30 hours per month.

    As some people have already stated, it is easy to take a bathroom break once an our, like watching TV except in this respect you don't have to worry about missing anything.

    The 30 hour minimum per month would probably be easy to get around. Just leave the computer on when you are not using it. The commercials would probably "air" whether you are there or not. Or will it track keyboard/mouse movements?

    If someone were to "hack" this then maybe they could have the commercials run, but in the background, and with no sound? They probably have some way to account for the commercials and 30 hours of use per month. If you could figure out how it communicates then you could just have it send out fake communications with your ID. This might even be able to be done under Linux.

    It is curious that IBM is doing this with XP instead of Linux. If they implimented it with Linux they could retain the root password which could make it a bit more difficult to get around the conditions.

    You might be able to dual boot between Windows and XP. You would just have to let it run 30 hours a month in XP. But the EULA probably prohibits installing other operating systems. But it probably prohibits hacking the communication too.
  • Great! So I can get a free PC which will automatically remind me every 20 minutes I should take a break from the PC? Seriously, how many people will use that 1 minute of ads to make a cup of coffee or take a toilet break?
  • What's the fuss about the adverts? Don't these people have Tivo? Oh, PC adverts... er... duct tape across the screen, maybe?

  • Ha! Deja vu (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JoeShmoe ( 90109 ) <askjoeshmoe@hotmail.com> on Monday December 15, 2003 @06:07AM (#7723337)
    (looks over at the Compaq 5301 in the corner)

    Where have we heard this before? Oh yes, Free-PC.

    In 1999 or there abouts Free-PC was doing the "ad-supported computer" scheme. Of course, back then streaming video for ads was out of the question and so they just chopped a 1024x768 desktop to be an 800x600 desktop with standard animated GIF type ads around the surplus.

    I was lucky enough to get one. Free-PC had no chance. I think they were toast even before the dot-com bubble burst. In the end, the were bought by eMachines who had no interest in supporting the crazy scheme so they sent us all letters giving us ownership of the computers.

    Truth be told, I thought it was a decent machine for an (ugh) Presario. Has some kind of AMD, I think it was a K2-66 maybe. I kept lugging around because I intended to find an upgrade for it, but the fastest processor it supports (a KIII+) goes on eBay for ridiculously absurd prices.

    But anyway, back on topic, I think companies are nuts to keep trying this. It took all of five minutes for people to figure out how to hack the Free-PC to be a normal PC (not to mention, play any game that used DirectX and ads go bye bye). I highly recommend people sign up for this. I'd bet dollars to pesos they go under in a year and everyone walks away with a free computer. History repeats itself right?

    - JoeShmoe
    .
    • Hmm... Speaking of that, how about a virtual display proggy of the shareware type that are available?

      Just let the ads display on "Screen 0" or whatever, and use "Screen 1" for everything you wanna do. If you turned the speakers down, you'd probably never even notice the ads.

      Possible?

      N.

  • Has this been suggested yet? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by GreeboNZ ( 651715 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @06:12AM (#7723363)
    Ghost the disk that comes with the computer onto an old, fairly useless pentium. Write a script to watch the ads for the contractually required time. Put the old pentium in a cupboard with an ethernet cable and forget about it, except for once a month, when you drop in the CD of new ads.

    Format the nice new fast computer with whatever os you choose, and use it as you please.

    They get their ads "watched" three times an hour, 24/7, by a genuine internet-connected PC running all the spyware they feel like, and you get to use the new hardware as you like.
  • Well as you are meant to take a break every 30 minutes or so just get a cup of tea whilst the adverts are on. Anyway I've ordered mine. Lets seem what happens

    Rus

  • Look on the bright side! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by benjiboo ( 640195 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @07:23AM (#7723549)
    Every post has slated the idea, speculated on ways to avoid watching the ads, or complained about the privacy issues. But get this:

    Firstly, advertising has proved time and again to be a sustainable business model throughout all media sectors. Why shouldn't this work too for PC/Internet Access?

    It's a great way for low income families to get online, or gain experience of using PC's - thus increasing their employability.

    The masses are more than happy to trade privacy for free stuff - cf loyalty cards.

    Stop looking for the faults in everything!

  • Okay so they want you to watch 3 minutes of advertising for every hour of use. With a furter minimum of 30 hours per month. You also sign up for a 3 year period. So at minimum you will have to watch:

    3 minutes * 30 hours * 12 months * 3 years = 3240 minutes wich is 2 and a quarter days worth of ads. Mmm, so the PC itself costs about 411 in vat from the IBM site (according to other people). But of course you OWN that machine. This one comes to about 7 quid per hour of your time. Is your time worth that? I kn

  • You won't be able to install Linux/*BSD (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @07:31AM (#7723570) Homepage
    Well ok , you CAN physically install it , but reading between the lines on their agreement form about having to use the internet 30 hours a month
    I'd bet my granny that the PC comes with some sort of phone home software and if it doesn't phone home after a month (because its been deleted) then I'm pretty sure someone would come knocking on
    the door a few days later. Of course you could always put Linux/BSD on and just use the PC for a month then wait for the knock,
    depends what you need it for.

  • Targetting the cheapskate demographic (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Simon ( 815 ) * <.simon. .at. .simonzone.com.> on Monday December 15, 2003 @07:31AM (#7723572) Homepage
    Which advertisers want to target a demographic so cheap that they won't buy a computer, and so "behind the times" that they already don't have a computer? Seriously. What are they thinking?

    --
    Simon

  • ghost the disk. Get a copy of VMware. Load in Linux. Load the ghosted disk into a virtual disk - which will compress it anyway so all those zeros are meaningless. Probably strip out 90% of the crap from the virtual machine.

    Fire up XP in the virtual machine and run it as a background process with output directed to either /dev/nul or to an X-window that isn't displayed.

    End of issue. If the virtual machine becomes a nuisance it can be killed any time.

    If you still need XP then you can use XP has the ho

  • A function of class (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gotw ( 239699 ) <ninjacyclist@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Monday December 15, 2003 @07:36AM (#7723589) Homepage
    If you had a choice between a computer with adverts and one without, at the same price, you would of course choose the one without. So this begs the question of who buys a computer worth a few hundred quid for this, it seems fairly major inconvenience. Most people have computers these days, and even if it means a small to fair upgrade I'd bet most people would be unwilling. Especially if they were considering the performance overhead that the ad software is going to take.
    The people left over using this are people who can't afford a new PC, and who lack the knowledge, time or wherewithal to make an old one work on older (or possibly less horribly bloated) software, or indeed the computer savvy to know that an older computer with such software is completely adequate for most peoples needs (we all survived on it however many years ago). What these people are also going to evaluate is that the benefits of having access to a computer and the internet is worth the advertising.
    The problem we have is that when we raise the bar to enter society there are problems. Where there is no good public transport provision in an area, a car is nessecary to conduct a decent life (especially outside a city), leading to ghettoisation of those who don't. [On a side note the people who are ghettoised in inner cities not only suffer through not having a car, but their areas are sliced up by roads to which they have no access. Crippling communities, and flaunting what others have in front of their faces every day] What I am leading to, far too slowly, is that this leads us to a world where computers are a nessecary part of life in the western world, especially with the advent of the internet. People without have less access to the wealth in society, leading to a situation where advertisers can further force their way into the homes of people who are wise enough to realise what they could gain from the computer it places there.
    The hardware upgrade spiral is the very most antisocial and upleasant aspect of the wintel cartel. Maybe govornments who want to free themselves from it should have schemes to recycle old computers and sell them cheaply (including software licenses). It'd probably help their GDP too.
    • While I agree with many of your thoughts I do not agree that computers are out of reach for poor folks.

      Here in Calgary I can and have bought several machines for under $200 Canadian - that is under 100 quid. As for them being underpowered? no... my desktop is an upgraded 1998 celeron 433 and it now runs at 1.3gHz (Note: tualatin core celeron's are faster and better than coppermine pentium III's in all respects ) and it has 384 MB ECC memory and I don't think you can even get ECC on P4's anymore.

      This means that newer computers do not even measure up to the MINIMUM standard I use.

      Note that a 1.3gHz Tualatin will run about 85-95% of the speed of a 1.8gHz P4. This is because of longer pipelines and a detuned core which imposes many additional cycles in order to get the same job done. Remember, Intel had to find some way to puff the numbers. [Besides - I'm not CPU bound anyways so my machine will NEVER run faster than now regardless of how many cycles per second I buy]

      The cost of my upgrade? Under $100 bux Canadian. So a poor person should be able to put themselves into a 1.3 gHz machine with the upgrade for less than $200 quid - easily - and still have money in that budget to pay an enterprising smart student out of high school or uni.

      --------------

      IMHO, most poor people have enuf money for their boose and smokes. It isn't a question of cost - its a question of priorities.
  • Does this mean that you can build your own NOC for free?

    ...of course, you're open to crackers three minutes every hour, but hey, you got that 30 hour a week thing sewn up.

    --
    Evan

  • Who cares if its got advertising. Sounds like another node for SETI or other distributed client.

  • 1998 called. They want their business model back.

  • Why bother with all the hacking? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by YrWrstNtmr ( 564987 ) on Monday December 15, 2003 @11:11AM (#7724587)
    Well...because we can, and it makes an interesting afternoon...:)

    But damn, people. All the suggestions of "2nd hard drive" "boot into Knoppix" "VMWare and run XP in the background" "hack this, hack that"
    WHY BOTHER?

    This machine is not aimed at you, nor anyone you know( ok...maybe your granny. but if you were a good grandson, you'd have hooked her up by now.). This is aimed at the current non-PC people. And as a way to get them into the virtual world, it's OK.

    If/when a way is found to circumvent the adware, phone home routine, etc...the advertisers will get no return on their money. One by one, they will pull out, Metronomy will kill the program for lack of funds, and a lot of people will never get their free PC. The only ones that may possibly benefit will be the ones that get in early, as they may be allowed to keep the machine after Metonomy goes under.

    Let's leave this one alone to sink or swim on its own accord. Personally, I think it'll sink, but we don't need to push it off the end of the pier.

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