Free for All - replacing office equipment and services with free equivalents - Industry Trend or Event

Home Office Computing, May, 2000 by Amee Abel

Can you really set up and run a home office for free?

THEY SAY THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE. BUT IS THAT true of technology? To find out, we asked contributing editor Amee Abel to replace all her office equipment and services with free equivalents for a month, and detail the experience in diary format. Can you get a well-equipped home office for nothing? As Abel found, the word free means different things to different vendors, but one thing is certain: Free offers, whether for Internet access, telephony, or e-mail, all work on the same premise--to get the products, you have to give up plenty of advertising-related personal information.

--the editors

January 3, 2000

What equipment is essential to my home office? A computer, a telephone line, e-mail, Internet access, a printer, fax capability, and technical support. But can I get a free computer without having a computer to fill out the application? I head to my local public library and sign up to use one of the PCs there. While this works, the library limits my online time to one-hour increments. I need to find a computer fast.

I visit the Web sites for FreePC.com (www.freepc.com), FreeDesktops.com (www.freedesktops.com), and FreeMac.com (www.freemac.com). Surprisingly similar, all wanted demographic information and promised to let me know if I'd qualified for a computer. Unfortunately, FreePC.com isn't taking on new customers, and FreeMac.com isn't returning calls. FreeDesktops.com does plan to distribute computers in May (terms weren't set at press time).

January 4, 2000

Began the day on the library's computer searching Dogpile (www.dogpile.com) for "free computers," "free Internet," and "free equipment." Turned up lots of hits. Started visiting sites that promised free computers with my paid subscription to an Internet service provider (ISP).

EPCdirect (www.epcdirect.com, 877-372-8833) offers a free 433MHz Intel Celeron desktop when you sign up for 36 months of MSN Internet access. The cost for 36 prepaid months is $758.99, and the monitor is extra. You can choose shorter prepaid terms (12 or 24 months) for a slightly lower cost. Unfortunately, the computer's warranty expires after one year, even though you'll spend two or three years paying for it. Financing the deal for $29.95 a month doesn't sound any better. No thanks.

DirectWeb (www.directweb.com, 888-WAY-2WEB) offers an IBM Aptiva with a 450MHz AMD processor and a skimpy 4GB hard disk when you sign up for three years of Internet access. The price starts at $29.95 per month and goes up depending on your credit history and the options (monitor, printer, software bundle) you select. At least the PC comes with a three-year warranty.

Intersquid.com (www.intersquid.com, 877-724-3733) ships you an unspecified-brand 333MHz PC when you sign up for 30 months of Internet access for $29.99 a month, plus a one-time fee of $100 for shipping and financing. You can pay an additional $550 or $950 for its higher-powered Gamer or Professional setups, respectively. Of course, ISP fees are actually less costly than these free computer deals--$19.95 a month at my local ISP, $21.95 per month for AOL ($19.95 per month if I prepay the year), or $19.59 per month for MSN. Further, if the experts are right about the impending widespread rollout of broadband (cable and DSL) access, by next year I'll be sorry I'm locked into a 56Kbps dial-up connection. I'm better off buying a computer and then trying to set up the rest of my office for free.

January 11, 2000

Interviewed Chad Fullmer, founder and CEO of FreeDesktops.com. He's trying to put together a free-PC deal. You get half the hard disk space for your use, while he keeps the other half for storing advertisers' messages. The system would display ads at certain times (say, at boot-up) and requires the user to navigate through the ads, ensuring that each one is seen. He plans to distribute computers to consumers who fit advertisers' demographic wish lists. Customers agree to a 36-month commitment, and get a free computer and Internet access in exchange for watching advertising and letting FreeDesktops.com collect data about their browsing habits.

Will this fly? Fullmer claims that because FreeDesktops.com stores its sponsors' ads on users' hard disks, he can ensure that customers see the ads even when they're not online. However, at press time, he had no hardware on hand.

January 12, 2000

Looks like I'll have to pay for a computer and a phone line. On the bright side, the Internal Revenue Service will let me deduct both these bills (for more information on tax perks, see "Don't-Miss Deductions," March 2000).

Good news: I had the winning bid in an Egghead auction (www.egghead.com) and am now the owner of a refurbished IBM Aptiva with a 500MHz Pentium III processor. Cost? A total of $799. The computer's features include 128MB of RAM, an 8GB hard disk, 2x DVD-ROM drive, and a 56Kbps modem. Since the PC is refurbished, it comes with only a 90-day warranty. It may not be free, but at least I'm not locked into a three-year contract.