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  • $100 laptop to sell

    I found this article interesting... I wonder what impact these laptops could have on human development in the Third World. I've read that a fiber optic pipeline connecting the Horn of Africa to eastern South Africa.
    '$100 laptop' to sell to public

    Computer enthusiasts in the developed world will soon be able to get their hands on the so-called "$100 laptop".

    The organisation behind the project has launched the "give one, get one" scheme that will allow US residents to purchase two laptops for $399 (£198).

    One laptop will be sent to the buyer whilst a child in the developing world will receive the second machine

    The G1G1 scheme, as it is known, will offer the laptops for just two weeks, starting on the 12 November.

    "From day one there's been a lot of interest expressed in having some way of people in the developed world participate in the programme," Walter Bender, head of software development at One Laptop per Child (OLPC), told the BBC News website.

    Price hike

    The XO laptop has been developed to be used by children and is as low cost, durable and simple to use as possible.

    It packs several innovations including a sunlight readable display so that it can be used outside. It has no moving parts, can be powered by solar, foot-pump or pull-string powered chargers and is housed in a waterproof case.

    The machine's price has recently increased from $176 (£88) to $188 (£93) although the eventual aim is to sell the machines for $100 (£50).

    Governments can buy the green and white machines in lots of 250,000.

    In July, hardware suppliers were given the green light to ramp-up production of all of the components needed to build the low-cost machines.

    The decision suggested that the organisation had met or surpassed the three million orders it need to make production viable.

    The names of the governments that have purchased the first lots of machines have not been released.
    Read more here: BBC NEWS | Technology | '$100 laptop' to sell to public
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

  • #2
    What the heck does a kid from ButtMunchistan need a friggin' laptop for? The problem is his goverrnment/country/situation, not his lack of connectivity.

    -dale

    Comment


    • #3
      dalem,

      can't beat the internet when it comes to collecting information, disseminating information and organizing...
      There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by dalem View Post
        What the heck does a kid from ButtMunchistan need a friggin' laptop for? The problem is his goverrnment/country/situation, not his lack of connectivity.

        -dale
        Education and wider access to the outside world, perhay?
        Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.
        - John Stuart Mill.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by dalem View Post
          What the heck does a kid from ButtMunchistan need a friggin' laptop for? The problem is his goverrnment/country/situation, not his lack of connectivity.

          -dale
          games!!!!
          "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by dalem View Post
            What the heck does a kid from ButtMunchistan need a friggin' laptop for? The problem is his goverrnment/country/situation, not his lack of connectivity.

            -dale
            YouTube, Face Book, My Space. Face it Dale, the kids in ButtMuncistan are probably wasting their time now playing soccer. All that exercise can't be good for them. Next thing you know, we'll find out that they eat too many vegitables and don't smoke enought either. We need to send them some cheap tobacco and a few billion deep fat fryers too.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by astralis View Post
              dalem,

              can't beat the internet when it comes to collecting information, disseminating information and organizing...
              From what I read they won't connect directly to the internet, but they will connect to each other thru some new tech developed at MIT. To connect to the net they need to go thru some setup at the school or whatever. Not sure how it works. Anyway, now that we will be creating a few hundred million more hackers in the world, it may not be long before kids from Rwandan to the Brazilian barrios are into identity theft and churning our viruses. Am I cynical?
              To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

              Comment


              • #8
                Hey, how about this - I propose we kickoff the DaleDoesn'tLikeYou New Zoo Review, where you donate $200. Someone takes the $200 and beats Robert Mugabe to death with a red-hot shovel.

                That'll do more good "for the children" than a boatload of cheap quasi-laptops.

                -dale

                Comment


                • #9
                  This project is now facing some troubles as the private sector has mobilized to fill this niche.

                  The $100 laptop (now at $180) has some innovations, like handcrank for power, rotating screen to use it as an e-book, ad-hoc wireless network, all open source software, rugged design...etc. But it's just not powerful enough to meet future needs.

                  Meanwhile, Asus of Taiwan just came up with this machine:

                  AnandTech: Intel Developer Forum 2007 - Day 2: USB 3, ASUS EeePC, Robot Car and More

                  The Eee PC is priced at $250 and $350, not a whole lot more than the XO. It is a lot more powerful and professional looking. It is not as rugged or independent of the power grid as the XO, but has more expandibility to meet future needs.

                  Intel also has its own entry to this low-cost market. Of course using far more powerful processors made by Intel than the above mentioned models.

                  The OLPC (one laptop per child) project had projected to ship more than 5 million machines by now. But some governments are waiting for more commercialized product like the Eee PC and some even refusing anything that can't run Windows (Russia).

                  I think the fatal flaw of OLPC project is that they refuse to sell the XO to the public to boost interest, volume, and lower cost. Sometimes, charities should think like a business to make things work.
                  "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    JAD,

                    Not sure how it works. Anyway, now that we will be creating a few hundred million more hackers in the world, it may not be long before kids from Rwandan to the Brazilian barrios are into identity theft and churning our viruses. Am I cynical?
                    i doubt those kids are gonna do better than the legions of experienced hackers already out there :))
                    There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by dalem View Post
                      What the heck does a kid from ButtMunchistan need a friggin' laptop for? The problem is his goverrnment/country/situation, not his lack of connectivity.

                      -dale
                      My thoughts exactly.
                      I enjoy being wrong too much to change my mind.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by dalem View Post
                        Hey, how about this - I propose we kickoff the DaleDoesn'tLikeYou New Zoo Review, where you donate $200. Someone takes the $200 and beats Robert Mugabe to death with a red-hot shovel.

                        That'll do more good "for the children" than a boatload of cheap quasi-laptops.

                        -dale

                        Very succinct, Dale.:))
                        Reddite igitur quae sunt Caesaris Caesari et quae sunt Dei Deo
                        (Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's)

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by sappersgt View Post
                          Very succinct, Dale.:))
                          I believe that there are complicated problems in this world.

                          I do not believe that Robert Mugabe and his ilk are one of them. :)

                          I mean, seriously. Who would weep if that guy fell backward onto a dozen salad forks?

                          -dale

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I am sure the myopic bleeding heart liberals behind project eHumanitarianism are beside themselves with excitement, pride and self-congratulatory fervor in regards to this latest white guilt exculpatory scheme -but here's the reality.

                            Yes, won't it be just wonderful when millions of people in the 'developing' world; children and adult alike, have access to the Internet and are able to view, via their PC or Mac panopticons, the unfathomable riches and prosperity of the industrialised world. Once the hutwives in some god forsaken Congolese mud hole view the current online circular for Acme supermarkets -how are they going to feel about their daily, hard won diet of millet porridge? And how content will their children be with an 18 hour day of goat herding once they have access to MTV and Nickelodeon?

                            Though well intentioned I'm sure -like all liberal crusades; providing an impoverished community with Internet access is nothing short of dangling a juicy carrot just out of reach of a hungry tortoise.
                            Exposing these people en masse to the wonders of the West can only serve to fan the flames of their discontent and lead not to an educational, technical, agricultural, scientific or social renaissance among the peoples of the third world -but rather an unprecedented surge in discontent and resentment.

                            And most assuredly an alarming swell in the ranks of the already overwhelming hordes of migrants overrunning the Western World.
                            But somehow I sense the globalist sponsors of project eHumanitarianism are already cognisant of this inevitable fallout -and consider it with premeditated satisfaction.


                            -C
                            Last edited by Cromwell; 27 Sep 07,, 09:53.
                            Paranoia is but a heightened state of awareness.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              But, you have to admit, there's a possibility that these people will look at the riches of the west and blame their government for not doing a better job at providing them with a better environment.

                              Of course since these projects are funded by local government money, they could have easily told the people the west is the reason why they live in crappy conditions.

                              I just hope these projects work as intended. More educated people in the developing world can lead to lower population growth and thus easier to manage limited resources.
                              "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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