FreePC/new address

["Jose G. Perez" <jose_g_perez@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

    People here have seen me comment occasionally on my "free-pc" computer,
so I thought I might update you on what's happened to that business model.

    The "free-pc" program gave you a free computer and free dial-up Internet
access in exchange for putting an L-shaped frame of ads around the screen.
In effect, it changed your 1024 X 768 screen into --for your purposes -- an
800 X 600 user area, with the rest belonging to the ads. Supposedly people
were picked selected at random to receive the PC's but I suspect the
demographic data you had to present as part of the application played some
role in it.

    When this was first announced in the press a year ago, it caused quite a
furor, and in the summer, quite a few manufacturers tried to "cash in" on
the "free-pc" buzz by basically offering a computer-Internet service bundle
over three years. The actual cost was about $800 or $900 for a $400
computer, plus whatever you think Internet service is worth.

    A couple of months ago, Free-pc was acquired by emachines. I *suspect*
what was involved was the inability of free-pc to pay for the machines they
had ordered from emachines, but I may be mistaken.

    At any rate, I just received the following from emachines:

>>Dear jose g.,

>>As part of our recent merger with eMachines, we have decided to
terminate the Free-PC program.  It was a difficult decision for us,
but it's important for us to focus our resources on providing new
desktop software applications for eMachines PCs.

>>As a result, we are going to transfer title of your PC to you.  This
means that the PC is now yours free and clear. <<

    Free-PC is also terminating its free Internet access service, but they
provided a handy list of free ISP's in the U.S. So people might want to make
a note of my new email address, which is jose_g_perez@xxxxxxxxxx

José


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