It seemed like the start of a courageous new era. Last fall, Wal-Mart announced it had sold out its initial order of Everex’s gPC, a super-cheap $200 computer running Ubuntu Linux and tuned to Google’s online applications. Now Wal-Mart has opted not to reorder the machines for in-store sales, although it’s still being sold online. “This really wasn’t what our customers were looking for,” spokesperson Melissa O’Brien told the Associated Press.

Wal-Mart sold the gPC in about 600 stores for a tryout, as well as online at walmart.com. Sales were “significantly more effective” online than on store shelves, it said. Wal-Mart is still carrying a newer version, the gPC2, for $199 without a monitor, and a laptop, the Everex CloudBook, for $399.

Bad Reviews

The difference within online and in-store sales could be explained by the appeal of inexpensive Linux machines to techies, while real-world consumers may be uncomfortable not buying a Windows machine or at least a

Mac. But the gPC suffered not just from weak branding; according to reviews, it was underpowered.

“The gPC was slapped together to sell to Web-savvy public who have very little pocket money,” Joel Santo Domingo wrote in a holiday-season review for PC Magazine. “My advice to those public? Save up for just a little longer and buy something for at least $450 that runs Windows Vista.”

The gPC had “so many problems,” Domingo said, “I would have a problem recommending it to anyone, regardless of their tech smarts (or lack thereof).” He said the gPC was capable of running Ubuntu, but just barely, was not nearly as “green” as advertised, and had poorly integrated urls to Google, Firefox and Wikipedia.

A Microsoft Conspiracy?

Some conspiracy-minded bloggers thought Wal-Mart’s decision had more to do with alleged close ties to Microsoft than objective sales analyzing. Cnet.com’s Matt Asay pointed out that…

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