“Ebiz Enterprises and its Linux Store unit have released what
they call the Pia, a $199 device that will be marketed through
Internet service providers. Prodigy, one of the Internet’s oldest
service providers, has already signed up to promote the Pia, which
stands for Personal Internet Appliance. …[Prodigy] sees Linux…
as a good way to power either cheap Internet appliances or servers
at the center of high-speed home computer networks…”
“Ebiz is among the top 100 makers of generic PCs known
as ‘white box’ computers. The company is trying to associate
itself with the Linux name in time for what the company perceives
as the imminent boom of the use of Linux as a novice-friendly
operating system to compete with Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows
software.”
” ‘It’s an absolute shame that the most expensive component of
the system is the operating system,’ [Ebiz chief executive Jeff]
Rassas said.”