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Negroponte Responds to $100 Laptop Criticisms

Posted by samzenpus on Tue Apr 04, 2006 08:41 PM
from the cheap-machines dept.
Education Technology
teefaf writes "Wired News is running an article on the most recent developments surrounding Nicholas Negroponte's (of MIT) $100 laptop project. The project aims to make 'cheap' computers available to children in developing countries. In the article, Negroponte responds to the inevitable criticism from Intel and Microsoft, "When you have both Intel and Microsoft on your case, you know you're doing something right", and elaborates on his vision for the future of the project, "He also said the display and other specifications could change as enhancements are made. In other words, he seemed to be saying to his critics: Don't get too hung up on how this thing operates now, 'The hundred-dollar laptop is an education project,' he said. 'It's not a laptop project.'". The article also states that the initial production cost of the laptops is expected to be $135; the $100 price-point probably won't be hit until 2008. It's possible that the cost could drop as low as $50 by 2010."
+ -
story

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  • Will it have a "Vista Capable" sticker on it? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 04 2006, @08:49PM (#15063009)

    Just wonderin'.

  • The critics ignore reality (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mhollis (727905) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @08:50PM (#15063013) Journal

    Everyone is very quick to speak ill of Negroponte's efforts here which are all about building a project that works and places computers onto the desks (or laps) of the "have-nots." Based on what I have read of the man he's an original thinker and very creative.

    Usually, the entrenched tend to be very frightened of those types.

    • Re:The critics ignore reality (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ezavada (91752) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:01PM (#15063078)
      I find it particularly amusing that Bill Gates is one of Negroponte's critics. Of the two, Negroponte is much more of a visionary. This is really obvious if you compare Gates' book Road to the Future with Negroponte's Being Digital. Negroponte identifies things that make you smack your forehead and say "oh, wow! Of course!" (Not that I had a sore spot on my forehead after reading it or anything like that). Gates talks about minor evolutions of things that most people in the industry wouldn't find terribly surprising or imaginative.

      • Re:The critics ignore reality (Score:4, Interesting)

        by macshit (157376) <miles.gnu@org> on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:44PM (#15063300) Homepage
        Gates talks about minor evolutions of things that most people in the industry wouldn't find terribly surprising or imaginative.

        That's what I'm always hearing about Gates' books. I assume the reason B.G. "wrote" books (I don't know the degree to which he actually wrote them) was not because he really wanted to, but because people were always saying to him "Bill, you're the richest man in the world, why aren't you writing a book to share your secrets?!?!"; at some point if you become famous enough, people expect you write a book...

        B.G.'s response was probably "Er, ok, I guess (sigh)...." (starts looking up ghostwriters in his address list).
      • Of the two, Negroponte is much more of a visionary.

        Before making that judgment, take a look at the web site for the Bill Gates Foundation. It's impressive. Based on what I read, Bill was determined that his foundation was really going to make a difference, rather than just throwing money at problems so that everyone "feels good" (as so many foundations do, and never actually solve anything).

        Say what you want about Bill (and his book wasn't that great), but you can't accuse him of lacking vision to doing

    • You should realize that this Nick Negroponte is the SAME GUY that whored himself to Swatch to promote their ridiculous "Internet Time" initiative.

  • It's an Education Project (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ezavada (91752) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @08:50PM (#15063016)
    I thought the most interesting thing about this was Negroponte saying "The hundred-dollar laptop is an educaton project. It's not a laptop project."

    Given that, it hardly matters what OS it runs, as long as school systems, educators, and students have the ability to write and run the educational software they need on it.

    IMHO, the real value of a machine like this in a students hands (especially if they are taught programming) is that they learn problem solving, not just information.

        • Re:It's an Education Project (Score:4, Interesting)

          by The Warlock (701535) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:39PM (#15063281)
          Not really. What if, when the price of the hardware went down, Apple decided that the free ride was over? What if Apple stripped it down to a crippled edition, like Windows XP Starter (or whatever Microsoft's braindead scheme to compete with rampant piracy in second-world nations is called this week)? What if Apple didn't feel like rooting out hardware bugs, and nobody else can because they own the source?

          Or, most likely, what if Apple refused to allow the device to be sold in the US? That would be an excellent way to raise money for the project, of course: sell the laptop for $250-$299 over here, and bang, every sale over here is one more laptop you can give to the poorer countries.

          No, it's much better to deal with software that you control on a device such as this.

  • Some people will complain about anything (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Baseball_Fan (959550) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @08:50PM (#15063017)
    The project aims to make 'cheap' computers available to children in developing countries. In the article, Negroponte responds to the inevitable criticism from Intel and Microsoft, "When you have both Intel and Microsoft on your case, you know you're doing something right",

    They are making a laptop that will cost $100, and perhaps $50 by 2010. Who cares about the specs, it will not be a buisness machine.

    Even if they stuffed a PII 400 mhz and had a 12" screen, it would be very usefull. People could write reports, surf the web, and compile programs. When I was in school, I compiled Java programs on a PII266 without any problems. Sure, I could not run a fancy IDE, but it was good enough to get the job done.

    I think a $100 laptop is important. The poor get screwed, and go without. Many poor families will be able to afford a $100 laptop. Also, if I was a charity with $5000 to give away, I would much rather give away 50 basic laptops than 5 thousand dollar laptops.

    • Even if they stuffed a PII 400 mhz and had a 12" screen, it would be very usefull.

      This is an excellent point.

      When I was doing undergrad in Moscow I had two friends whose specialization was hydrodynamics.

      Obviously they needed to write and run some code, but computer time was hard to come by. So they put their savings together and bought an IBM XT clone for $5. It was that cheap because at that time 386 were already low end. That XT machine was still very useful - and all theirs.

      In a similar fashion, wha

    • Re:Some people will complain about anything (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 1u3hr (530656) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @10:47PM (#15063602)
      They are making a laptop that will cost $100, and perhaps $50 by 2010. Who cares about the specs, it will not be a buisness machine.

      No, it will be an excellent business machine. Writing documents, doing spreadsheets, inventory, email. We used to do that on 286s 10 years ago. That's 98% of what most small businesses use a PC for. And there are lots of more specialised apps on SourceForge, they can probably use DOS apps under emulation, and with millions of these machines around there will be a demand and market for more to be created. That's what Gates is afraid of, a whole world of non-MS software.

      • And you bring up a good opportunity for sales of the machine...business machines for companies in developing countries...and how much more likely would they be to buy one if they knew that for every laptop they bought, they would be helping to pay for the children down the road to get laptops for school??? It certainly looks good on a local level...not to mention the infrastructure that will probably shoot up overnight to support/upgrade these new laptops...

        Dell may not have a service center close by, but

  • Why (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cubicledrone (681598) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @08:51PM (#15063020)
    skeptics have questioned whether the device can meet Negroponte's goal of inspiring huge educational gains

    Why do skeptics decide? Of what value is the opinion of a skeptic? Why do people listen to skeptics at all? Offer something constructive, or SHUT THE FUCK UP.

    "Geez, so why criticize me in public?" Negroponte said.

    Good question. Why everyone isn't on this guy's side is beyond me.

    Microsoft did not immediately return calls for comment.

    Wait, wait. Let me guess. A meeting! Right?!?!

    In time, Negroponte expects the $100 laptop to be a misnomer. For one thing, he believes the cost -- which is actually about $135 now and isn't expected to hit $100 until 2008 -- can drop to $50 by 2010 as more and more are produced.

    This man should be given a standing ovation everywhere he goes. Anyone who criticizes him should be ashamed of themselves and their companies. This is a worthwhile, workable project, and it should be supported.

    • Re:Why (Score:5, Funny)

      by hunterx11 (778171) <hunterx11@gmai l . c om> on Tuesday April 04 2006, @08:55PM (#15063038) Homepage Journal
      Don't be so coy; tell us what you really think.

      • Re:Why (Score:5, Insightful)

        by tehdaemon (753808) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @10:55PM (#15063632)
        " Good question. Why everyone isn't on this guy's side is beyond me

        Because some people think there are more important things, like curing/controlling AIDS, building infrastructure, and enabling access to clean water. "

        That explains why they are not helping him, but it does not explain why they are opposing him. And they are opposing him.

        • Re:Why (Score:3, Insightful)

          by c6gunner (950153)
          Throughout the History of Humanity, $100 laptops have not been neccesary for education. The best way to educate people who are utterly clueless is to provide competent teachers. Who the hell is going to teach these kids to use the laptop? Who's going to troubleshoot it? My kid sister lives in a first world country with full access to schooling, the internet, and books, and she STILL needs me to fix anything that goes wrong with the computer. I shudder to think what would happen if you gave her a hand-c

            • Re:Why (Score:5, Interesting)

              by Kadin2048 (468275) <slashdot@kadin.xoxy@net> on Tuesday April 04 2006, @11:57PM (#15063886) Homepage Journal
              It won't need troubleshooting, it will run Linux.

              You had me, right up to there.

              The only computer I've ever been near that "didn't require troubleshooting" was an Apple IIc. And even there I'm not sure that it's a true statement -- it's just that the troubleshooting was so simple, the group of 1st graders that I saw using it could do it themselves.

              Put disk into drive. Turn on computer. Computer runs program. When done with program, turn computer off. Remove disk. Repeat.

              Now that's the kind of computer they should be laboring to build. Maybe make it run on little optical cartridges or something instead of 5-1/4" floppies, but the same idea. Put the disk in, turn it on, it runs. Anything else is needlessly complex and will require support infrastructure.

              Now maybe, like the old Apple II, you could have it do something special, an "advanced mode," if you will, when you turn it on without something in the drive. The old Apples booted to a text prompt where you could program in BASIC. Probably only 1 in 1,000 users will ever see it, and only 1 in 1,000 of them will ever bother to try to go further and figure out what it means and what they can do from there. But maybe you'll teach that 1 in 1,000,000 kid something, and he'll turn out to be the next Linux Torvalds. I can accept that.

              However, if the machine is anything approaching the complexity of today's PCs, which most literate, educated people can hardly understand, much less troubleshoot and support, I think you're setting the whole thing up for failure. IMO, any device you're tossing out there like this ought to be like a Gameboy: just enough onboard, hardcoded intelligence to make the thing turn on and load code from external modules. That way no matter how bad you hose the software, you can't "break it." Plus it makes them a lot easier to share: one person can pull out the cartridge/disk for whatever they've been working on, and another person can plug theirs in and it's like they're on a different system.

  • 100 dollar computers? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bmo (77928) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @08:58PM (#15063053)
    What about shipping your old stuff overseas?

    http://www.worldcomputerexchange.org/offices/bosto n_contacts.htm [worldcompu...change.org]

    There are plenty of takers for your old equipment. Why fill up a dump?

    --
    BMO

              • Re:100 dollar computers? (Score:5, Insightful)

                by Kadin2048 (468275) <slashdot@kadin.xoxy@net> on Wednesday April 05 2006, @12:11AM (#15063946) Homepage Journal
                The laptop is going to be distributed for free by governments and NGOs.

                That's the one part of this plan that I have the most serious reservations about.

                Here's what I think is likely to happen. Plane full of laptops is unloaded at airfield in Uganda. Negroponte gets photo op, handing first unit to smiling child. Technology companies, computer users, all get warm fuzzy feeling.

                Cameras go off, Negroponte and cadre go home. Ugandan government officials come out, confiscate laptops, load into trucks, take to black-market smuggler, trade for AK-47s. Laptops go in shipping container, shipped to India where workers in sweatshops file serial numbers off, then to LA where they get sold in stores and via eBay for $125. Ugandan goverment officials draft children into Army, give each one an AK-47.

                Net result: African children get guns, Americans get warm fuzzy feeling and cheap black-market technology.
              • " Maybe it was cool to you, but most kids in your class thought it was lame"

                No, actually most kids in my school _did not have computers_ at all! Like I said, you weren't there. You're not old enough to witness the transformation from _not_ having computers to _having_ them. Even the lowest powered machine, something on the order of a Kaypro luggable (talk about rugged!) suitcase computer can give culture shock.

                "but solving this other problem would be even better!"

                It would! Give them teachers, books, lit

  • Publicity (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Brandybuck (704397) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:14PM (#15063129) Homepage Journal
    It is just me, or does it seem that this project is much more interested in publicity than in actually producing cheap computers? If it were all about cheap computers for poor nations, just publish the specs and be done with it. Or just collect and ship used throwaway computers overseas. Instead I get the sense that more effort is being spent promoting Negroponte as a wonderful humanitarian than is being spent actually helping the poor.

    • Re:Publicity (Score:5, Interesting)

      by humphrm (18130) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:36PM (#15063269) Homepage
      Actually, it was Bill Gates who raised the publicity flag first, by mocking the project. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060316/tc_nm/microsof t_gates_dc [yahoo.com]. But if you're talking about MIT announcing the project, and daring to keep working on the project after Bill Gates mocked it, and responding to his criticism, I guess those soulless bastards are guilty. Frankly, I think Gates feels threatened in two ways: someone is out-tech'ing him, and someone is out-charitying him. Poor guy. He must feel like such an insensitive clod. Too bad he's clueless, this isn't about someone paying $100 bucks for a PC, a poor African child can no more afford that than a $3000 PC. It's about making a PC cheap enough that an NGO can afford to give them away. And that's a far cry from anything even the holy Bill and Melinda Foundation are trying to accomplish.

      • Re:Publicity (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Dekortage (697532) on Wednesday April 05 2006, @06:51AM (#15065061) Homepage

        someone is out-charitying him

        You're kidding, right? You think a $100 laptop project -- working with $29 million dollars donated by some tech companies -- has surpassed the Gates Foundation's $10 billion in donations [gatesfoundation.org] to nonprofits (particularly to solve health issues in Third World countries)? Try working in the international nonprofit sector for awhile, you'll start getting ticked at Negroponte too. These kids needs nutrition, vaccines, and education. A laptop might help with the latter, but good teachers, clinics, and/or radio networks would solve this problem MUCH MORE CHEAPLY.

        Negroponte is a visionary, and I like him a lot, but in this case he is using a chainsaw to hammer a nail.

    • f it were all about cheap computers for poor nations, just publish the specs and be done with it. Or just collect and ship used throwaway computers overseas.

      The point, as Negorponte said, is that this is an educational project, not a project about cheap computers. If the aim was just to throw a random lump of computer hardware in front of a kid in the thrid world then indeed used computers would be fine. The project is trying to do more than that however, and that means more effort needs to be spent on the

  • Ghandi had the right idea (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chairboy (88841) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:26PM (#15063209) Homepage
    "First, they ignore you.

    Then they laugh at you.

    Then they fight you.

    Then you win."

    It appears that we are currently transitioning from 2 to 3.

  • Up from the cell phone, not down from the PC (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Animats (122034) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @10:04PM (#15063404) Homepage
    The action in third world countries seems to be in adding features to cell phones, not trimming down PCs. A cell phone is inherently useful; you can make calls. Adding on extra features doesn't run the manufacturing cost up all that much. The niche Negroponte sees will probably be filled by some cell phone based product that looks like a Blackberry or a Game Boy or a Palm Pilot.
    • The action in third world countries seems to be in adding features to cell phones, not trimming down PCs. A cell phone is inherently useful; you can make calls. Adding on extra features doesn't run the manufacturing cost up all that much. The niche Negroponte sees will probably be filled by some cell phone based product that looks like a Blackberry or a Game Boy or a Palm Pilot.

      As someone who has owned a:
      • Palm Treo 650
      • Sharp Zaurus
      • Psion Revo
      • Apple Newton
      • +others

      I can confidently say that a PDA simp

  • Gates not all bad (Score:4, Insightful)

    by opencity (582224) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @10:10PM (#15063437) Homepage
    Gates once stood up at a do-gooder tech conference (saving Africa with wifi or some such) and said: These people don't need computers, they need security, clean water and medicine. Bash Gates and MS for their ugly tech all you want, and I do, but he ponies up cash for real health problems. I honestly doupt MS is worried about market share in the Sudan.

    Flame away, I can take it.
    • Knowledge is far more important than security, clean water, or medicine. Knowledge is, ultimately, more important than life itself. "Who knows only their own generation remains forever a child." We can keep sending food, medicine, etc. to the developing countries of the world, but until they have a glimpse of what possibilities lie outside of their world and what wonders they can strive for, they will never truly be alive. It is knowledge that helps a people grow and ultimately better themselves. Yes,

  • Lack of knowledge here about 3rd world countries (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bfwebster (90513) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @11:49PM (#15063844) Homepage
    I lived in Central America (Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama) for two years, back in 1972-74. The literacy rate in Honduras and Nicaragua at that time was around 25-30%; there were no public schools; still, most people had electricity and a significant number had telephones. I knew lots of bright kids and young adults who would have benefitted tremendously from something like the $100 laptop. Using the US consumer price index as a crude measure of purchasing power, a current (2006) $100 laptop would be a $25 laptop back then--and lots of families I knew could have afforded that (and would have leapt at the opportunity).

    Interestingly enough, the literacy rate in neighboring Costa Rica at that time was something over 95%, higher than even in the US. The people were well educated, but (compared to the US) poor. I can argue that they would benefit even more from the $100 laptop.

    Several posters here seem stuck on a image of giving these laptops to Masai tribes in unelectrified Kenyan backcountry. The potential market for such laptops is global; there are many millions of people who live in countries with the requisite electric infrastructure, who could eke out $100 for one of these laptops, and who could benefit thereby due to poor educational opportunities in their countries. ..bruce..

      • You're on the completely wrong track. If you focus entirely on providing just the basics, you will fail. A country that cares about nothing but providing food, shelter, clothing and health will see it's economy collapse and it's workforce increasingly consist of people too uneducated to bring in substantial foreign investments or to be able to set up competitive businesses to boost export revenues. Once you start down that spiral, it's self-reinforcing.

        I also notice that you obviously do have access to a computer, and the time to post on Slashdot. What gives you the right of speaking on behalf of all of those that don't have that luxury about what their needs are?

        And your idea about the US tax system is completely far out there. Most people in the US pay far more than 21% once you've added up federal income tax, state income taxes (for the states that have them), and local taxes (including property taxes etc.). For most working people in the US the total direct tax burden will add up to more like 25%-30% unless they're on extremely low salaries or live in extremely low tax areas.

  • thank you... but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AiZ (595385) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @11:52PM (#15063866)
    We, the people who live in those needy countries do not need cheap computers.
    Thank you Nicholas, but we need some other stuff first if you guys want to help us. And our governments are so stupid that they will buy these computers for our people instead of using that money to address some other issues.

    The will is ok, but it will end up doing us worse.

    In my country (Argentina) all those computers will end up in wrong hands. We dont need computers for education; it seems that americans believe that are helping the world, but from this side of the counter it is all different.

    Countries dont need to be invaded to get help... not with your armies, not with your patents, not with your companies that take full advantage of our corrupt governments (as this project)... It is our fault, but please stop "helping" us in those ways because it harms people seriously.

    Your banks lend money to our govs, that money goes somewhere else, no-one controls that seriously and we all end up paying that "help" and nobody gets anything.

    Nicholas, if you want to help then travel to our country and do something punctual. But SKIP governments; or else you will be feeding corruption and you will never know.

    Regards,
    AiZ
    • THe sole reason why undeveloped countries stay that way is because of the large unproductive workforce that is uneducated.

      If Africans (just an example) learn basic computer skills and children use education programs and can learn and connect with the rest of the world and be better informed the result would be tremendous!

      Many employers could then setup shops and hire people. One of the reasons India is hot and Sudan is not is because the Indians speak English and are more educated then the Sudanesse.

      Compute
      • To be fair, there's also some compelling economic policy reasons for the poverty situation. Take Zimbabwe. They decided to go ahead with this massive land redistribution program, kicking the white people off their spacious farms and redistributing the land to blacks. A noble endeavour? Perhaps in theory. But now they're stuck with an inflation rate of 600% or so and massive starvation.

        Other African countries have... well, few things so extreme, but sometimes they have things to prevent their population from

    • Re:There is one question left unanswered (Score:5, Insightful)

      by qortra (591818) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @08:59PM (#15063066) Homepage
      This project is designed to benefit countries as a whole. Some countries have populations with no high-level skills. By providing these cheap laptops (along with a wireless infrastructure) to their citizens, they can prepare them for more high-level work, which will attract business, which will create jobs, which will put bread on the table.

      Ergo, $100 laptops will [indirectly] put bread on the tables of those who need it.

    • Re:There is one question left unanswered (Score:5, Insightful)

      by periol (767926) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:06PM (#15063100) Homepage
      In 1990 I was given an old x86 machine that ran DOS off of floppy, and then Word off of floppy. I took to that computer immediately, and 17 years later, after many different jobs, I work in IT. Without that x86, I wouldn't have pushed my parents to get me a 486 for my birthday, or tried to get a job at the college helpdesk before I arrived at college. Maybe I would have still ended up here, but I doubt it. Putting a computer in the hands of a child can be a powerful thing.

      Why knock it?
      • Putting a computer in the hands of a child can be a powerful thing.

        umm.. actually..

        Putting a computer in the hands of a nerd can be a powerful thing.

        I am sure if the said computer was given to Chuck Norris as a child, the computer would have ended up as a totally shattered thing.

    • Why do these countries need a widespread distribution of $100 computers?

      It's aiming to be more than just a laptop, it is being designed for the express purpose of being an ideal educational tool for children in third world countries. Haven't you ever read "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson? Think of it as our primitive version of "The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" based on the technology we have available at our disposal currently. That sounds like a worthy goal to me.

      Jedidiah.

      • Re:god (Score:4, Insightful)

        by westlake (615356) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:03PM (#15063091)
        I can't believe Bill Gates' comments regarding the sub $100 laptop. It just proves that all his donations to charity from his huge coffers don't really come from his geniune desire to help people in need, but rather to glorify himself.

        Or, just maybe, he thinks fightng AIDS among Africa's orphaned kids fills a tad more urgent need than MITS phantom $100 laptop.

        • Re:god (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Viking Coder (102287) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:15PM (#15063131)
          How do you fight AIDS in Africa, with a sub-machine gun?

          No, you fight it with education. "The hundred dollar laptop is an education project." I'm watching this program on PBS talking about AIDS in Africa, and this doctor is explaining the birds and the bees to this 19-year old kid who has just infected his wife, because he used to have unprotected sex with prostitutes while he was off fighting a war for his country (from the time he was 14). The kid had no idea how AIDS was spread.

          • Re:god (Score:5, Informative)

            by westlake (615356) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:56PM (#15063357)
            How do you fight AIDS in Africa, with a sub-machine gun?

            The Freeplay Foundation uses radio, all-but-indestructible clockwork and solar powered multiband portables that can be manufactured anywhere.

            The MITS laptop is dependent on the giant asian OEMS. Exchange rates, production and shipping costs. It wouldn't take much to push the project over the edge.

            The infrastructure for radio is in place and we have seventy-five years of experience in educational broadcasting on which to build. Shortwave means that news filters in from outside.

            The networking of the MITS laptop seems limited and fragile. You are essentially limited to whatever information the local powers-that-be are willing and able to provide.

          • Re:god (Score:3, Insightful)

            by I_redwolf (51890)
            Hi. don't you see a little problem with the fact that he was off fighting a war for his country (from the time he was 14)? Maybe he would of had more time to learn about AIDS had he not been packing mags, slinging rounds?

            Bet he knows alot more about an AK or AR than you. So yes, he probably had no idea how AIDS was spread but he knows he can shoot an AK clear for 4-5 mags without jams or barrel sieze. So with that said, how is a $100 dollar laptop going to help him? Do you think he's going to magically look

            • Re:god (Score:5, Insightful)

              by Floody (153869) on Wednesday April 05 2006, @04:36AM (#15064679)
              Come on, what more education do you need than "don't shoot up drugs with strangers and don't have sex with them"


              What an incredibly simplistic, narrow and ignorant viewpoint.

              The problems Africa has are unrelated to education and more in line with corrupt politicians and warlords. A $100 laptop ain't gonna solve that one bit, no matter if the poor kids there can now blog about how crappy their lives are.


              The challanges facing emerging third-world nations are very much rooted in education (or lack-there-of). Anachronistic feudal systems are a symptom, not a cause.

              When one's only knowledge of issues like disease and sexuality comes from an oral tradition that is lacking in causality-based logic, being told "don't shoot up drugs with strangers and don't have sex with them" is going to be completely meaningless; especially if one's heard such gems as "having sex with a virgin will cure you of X disease" from your peers for most of your life. In order to understand and incorporate the importance of "don't have sex with strangers", one first needs to understand what can happen when this rule is broken and why/how it happens.

              This means teaching, at a minimum, the basis of critical thinking; e.g. causality. In developed societies, east or west, causality is taught almost from birth (whether explicitly or implicitly); and it is often assumed that causality-reasoning is a "built-in" human feature. This is very much not true, and has not been the majority-case until relatively recent history. Such knowledge comes no more naturally or automatically to man than it does to your dog. The difference is that humans have the physiological capability to significantly extend and modify their reasoning abilities, while rover is somewhat limited in this capacity.

      • Oh, please. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Kadin2048 (468275) <slashdot@kadin.xoxy@net> on Tuesday April 04 2006, @11:43PM (#15063816) Homepage Journal
        Wait a second there ... now, I'm willing to give Gates credit where credit's due, particularly in terms of being a shrewd (one might say ruthless) businessman, but I think it's totally out of line to just hand him credit for the PC revolution. Anybody who believes that is either seriously misguided, or getting a paycheck from Redmond, or both.

        If IBM had gone with a different company to make an OS for its computers, nobody would have ever heard of Bill Gates or Microsoft, 90% of the world would be running some other operating system, and we'd still have computers on our desks. In fact, if you wanted to find a single company to give the majority of the credit to, I'd say Compaq is probably the most deserving, for reverse-engineering the IBM BIOS and producing the first clones, thus breaking IBM's pricing structure.

        Really I think the only credit you can give Microsoft and Windows is for driving a very rapid hardware upgrade cycle over the last decade; this created sales volumes which led to economies of scale in the past few years which have kept the price of computer hardware on an ever-decreasing spiral.

        I don't think there's anything that Microsoft did that you can't argue would have happened anyway, had they never existed or had IBM adopted a different OS. And frankly I can think of several scenarios which might have resulted in better outcomes for the average PC owner than the current one.

        On the other hand, maybe you were just trolling.

    • Re:Loss of the crank is good (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Arthur B. (806360) on Tuesday April 04 2006, @09:17PM (#15063151)
      Are you kidding me... I have an expensive high-end laptop, yet I would definitely buy a crank for it if it were available. Ok I am a nanoscopic niche market. But still... Other than the cool factor (I am a geek, yes I DO find it cool) there were so many times where I was left battery-less, I would really buy a crank. My only concern is the size of the thing. If they could make it light (carbon fiber) and foldable to the size of a laptop battery, I'd be the first customer.
    • Well, it's not like it's running from straight ROM. It has a gig or two of flash space. A hard drive would be too fragile for the conditions this thing is built to endure.

      Sidenote: If they throw a single USB port on that thing, I'll buy one in the US for whatever they'll sell them to us at (probably roughly $250).

    • "Remember, $100 in the US (and many other countries) is very cheap. In the countries that this is intended for, it's a lot. Perhaps even several months wages. When you are looking at not being able to feed yourself or your family, that laptop will most likely become a bartering tool, or sold outright to get food on the table."

      As others have already pointed out (albeit somewhat misguidedly), when you're worrying about satisfying one of Maslov's basic needs, you're probably not in school anyway.

      But take a

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