Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) made a splash last October when it began selling a $199 personal computer on its shelves. Not only was the price the lowest in the land, but it was Wal-Mart's way of providing a PC to its "Always Low Prices" core customer group that just needed a PC for web browsing, email and light work like word processing.

This group of people didn't need the "upgrade" of Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows operating system, which significantly adds to the price of any PC it comes pre-installed on. No, Wal-Mart's "gPC" came with the Linux operating system, which is completely free, looks very much like Microsoft's Windows and performs many of the same tasks. The only problem with that is customers just didn't buy the $199 box in very good volumes -- even at a $199 price point.

So, Wal-Mart has yanked the product from its national shelves, although the $199 gPC will still be sold at www.walmart.com. Now, the PC did reportedly sell out in its stores (600 stores to be exact), but Wal-Mart indicated that "This really wasn't what our customers were looking for." Although the retailer sold out of the $199 PC and decided not to restock it, the decision says that 1) customers need or want Microsoft Windows after all to keep compatibility with programs they would like to install (like Microsoft Office), or 2) there was pressure from Microsoft in some form to not confuse customers with all of the PCs also available at Wal-Mart from vendors like Taiwan's Acer and Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL). But, only 600 stores sold the $199 PCs -- so in all reality, this was just a test for Wal-Mart, plain and simple. Ultimately, though, it failed.