PC World Plant Seeds Of Change With Green PC
Environmentalists have long been complaining that most computers sold are far less than "green", and while there have been ecologically-considered options before now they've been nowhere near mainstream. UK retailer PC World aims to change all that, or at least so their press release would have you believe, with a sustainable computer made from recycled and energy efficient components.
The company will also plant trees for each unit sold, buying into the latest eco-wheeze "carbon offsetting", and use a European construction facility to reduce transportation effects. Rob at Paperless Undergrad shocks economists and marketers everywhere by saying "bring it on" to the price increases potentially necessary to bring all this about, while ZDNet concern themselves with those naysayers who criticise the choice of Windows Vista quoting its appetite for power.
Frankly, while it might be even better to have a bring-your-own-OS system or something running an electricity-conscious Linux OS variant, at the end of the day you can't really fault PC World's decision. To not provide what will inevitably be the Next Big Thing in software environments would basically slice it out of the running for the general public wandering the aisles. The tech-minded might be willing – happy, even – to tussle with Linux, but this is a mainstream retailer and you can bet they sell a whole lot more PCs to people who wouldn't have a clue what to do if the familiar Start button wasn't in the bottom left corner.
So part kudos, part critique – I can't help but imagine this being one "good egg" among a sea of other machines, however, and it'll take some pushing by PC World and their (often woeful) staff to highlight the green choice.