Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
Mike Easter wrote:
Roger Blake wrote:
Cost is ridiculous when compared to similar-spec commodity hardware,
but as I said what you're paying for is the ease of use for people who
really have no knowledge of computers at all. I find it frustrating
to deal with since it is so locked down. However my elderly neighbor,
who is a WWII veteran to whom a computer seems like something out of
Buck Rogers, loves the thing.

Another feature of the WOW which is an all-in-one design 22" touchscreen
(2G ram, 32 G SSD, wireless kb/mouse) is their 'built-in' support
situation.Â* Free lifetime basic support and VIP support at $10/mo, which
basic support is toll free phone, email, and claims to be US based (that
may be the VIP v.)Â* as opposed to a language barrier phone center
somewhere in the world.

The VIP support includes extras and remote access support.

I dunno about the US, but in the UK if I get an Indian I just say "I'd
like to speak to an English person please" and they put me through to one.


The business of being able to provide sufficient quality telephone
support is typically a very costly and difficult undertaking. The
typical scenario is that it is farmed out to call centers somewhere the
support hourly wage is more affordable, such as India or the Philippines.

This target marketed audience of seniors, particularly those who would
choose to buy such a WOW computer, would seem to me to be a particularly
difficult one. "I don't know anything about computers and my faculties
are somewhat impaired as I can't see very well (or hear very well, or
remember very well, or handle a mouse very well)."

It is interesting that the WOW people decided to build their interface
on the Tiny Core Linux base and other open source ware. It seems that
the hardware is very minimal except for what is spent on that 22"
touchscreen, so the dollar distribution would be hardware-wise
principally that monitor touchscreen and then the tech support.

I'm sure they would 'immediately' upgrade the users who needed more
support to the $10/mo VIP (1st 30 d. free VIP), but that is still pretty
cheap price. Being able to give remote support helps a lot, but that
requires functional connectivity and hardware performance. If one of
those weren't operating properly, I think the customer would need some
kind of outside support.

The reviews on Amazon were more negative than positive. There were
worthwhile comments there from IT people who made suggestions about
alternate ways to provide much better hardware, but I didn't find those
suggestions satisfactory about how to achieve a 'foolproof' interface.
There's the nut in this venture.


--
Mike Easter