Carphone Warehouse denies mass Linux Webbook recall

Ditched open source OS for XP ages ago

By James Sherwood • Get more from this author

12th November 2008 15:57 GMT

Carphone Warehouse (CW) has denied rumours that it has recalled its entire in-store stock of own-brand Linux netbooks so it can replace the open source OS with Windows.

A spokesman for the company told Register Hardware today that it began phasing out the Linux-based Webbooks in late September. “All the machines in-store are already installed with XP,” said the spokesman. “There’s no truth in these rumours.”

Said speculation, as reported by Mobile Today, had it that the retailer issued a recall of its own-brand mini laptop from stores because customers found the open source OS “unfamiliar” and “confusing”.

The CW spokesman wouldn’t confirm exactly why it chose to dump Linux in favour of XP, but Mobile Today’s report claimed that the Linux Webbooks have a customer return rate of around 20 per cent.

CW’s Windows XP Webbook costs £270 ($410/€327), but you can get one for free on a monthly 3G contract.

Carphone Warehouse Webbook review