I had to chuckle at the recent headlines: ‘Wal-Mart yanks Linux,’ ‘Wal-Mart Linux experiment failed,’ ‘Wal-Mart puts lid on Linux.’ Why don’t they just come right out and say what they seem to insinuate: ‘Wal-Mart murdered Linux.’ Now, that’s not really what happened. Can you murder an operating system? Some folks may have tried, but Wal-Mart’s move doesn’t have as much to do with how bad or good Linux desktops are selling in the market. No, it’s more about Wal-Mart’s expectations, mainstream PC consumer behavior and a changing model to buy computers.

In terms of Wal-Mart’s expectations, well, it expects a lot. According to the company’s blog, most Wal-Mart stores only have room for 10 or so desktops in stock, so the gPC was competing against some of the most popular mid-range PC equipment in the industry.

As for mainstream PC consumer behavior, I was fascinated to learn that big box Wal-Mart customers wanted a big box PC that matched their oversized vehicles, televisions and what not. In other words, even though the gPC is made of slim, simple components, including a Mini-ITX motherboard, the casing and tower for the PC are oversized, because consumers think bigger is better. Well, Wal-Mart consumers think bigger is better. Makes sense and it reminds us that you can never be sure about consumer behavior.

That brings us to the changing model in the way computers are built, bought and shipped. Notice the buying comes before the shipping. There are plenty of options to get Linux, and most of them are what is increasingly becoming mainstream: buying online. This trend helped seal the fate of big stores such as CompUSA. Wal-Mart, wise as it is for such a giant corporation, realizes it must serve customers in its stores and on its Web site.

The Everex gPC is still available at Wal-Mart.com and guess what, it is among the top sellers. Not bad for something that’s supposedly been: ‘yanked, stopped, nixed, dropped, dumped, closed out, snubbed, rejected, discontinued, withdrawn and terminated.’