I'm in favor of the new logo. It's a simple, clear change that doesn't abandon their history or over promise the new commitment to being a better corporate citizen. I wish it was a little more original, but I'm not sure Walmart and customers are ready for a revolution.
And, of course, the logo and sunburst is no where near catching up with Target's red bullseye. They should have a plan for evolving the burst to something brandable, but that is easier to do from the current logo than the old star. (Speaking of the star, when is Macy's going to update. They look really tired right now.)
From other voices:
Capsule blog's "10 ways to make your logo launch fail" has this worst practice suggestion:
"Launch the logo on the employees, instead of with the employees."
"Just think of the manufacturers that will benefit from this logo change....unless they are all owned by Wal-Mart!"
Laura Ries doesn't think it's going to change most people's perception and doesn't like the change:
In general, it’s preferable to avoid hyphens in names and to use upper and lowercase letters rather than all-caps. But for Wal-Mart, its name and its typography are so well known that changing everything at once is dangerous.
And then there's the official, blog-casual message on the corporate site. (Notice the favicon is still the sheriff's star.)