[extropy-chat] The Economist: The $100 computer arrives!

Dirk Bruere dirk.bruere at gmail.com
Sun Oct 2 21:50:12 UTC 2005


On 9/30/05, Jose Cordeiro <jose_cordeiro at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4462822
>  *Computing*
>
> *Cheap tricks*
> Sep 29th 2005
> From The Economist print edition
>
>
> *A $100 laptop for the poor could affect the computer industry*
>
> THE idea is as audacious as it altruistic: provide a personal laptop
> computer to every schoolchild—particularly in the poorest parts of the
> world. The first step to making that happen is whittling the price down to
> $100. And that is the goal of a group of American techno-gurus led by
> Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the fabled MIT Media Lab. When he
> unveiled the idea at the World Economic Forum in January it seemed wildly
> ambitious. But surprisingly, it is starting to become a reality. Mr
> Negroponte plans to display the first prototype in November at a UN summit.
> Five countries—China, Brazil, Egypt, Thailand and South Africa—have said
> they will buy over 1m units each. Production is due to start in late 2006.
>   [image: RELATED ITEMS]
> [image: More articles about......]
> Computer technology<http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/display.cfm?id=348909>
>
> Debt and development<http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/display.cfm?id=348915>
>
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>
> How is the group, called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), able to create a
> laptop so inexpensively? It is mainly a matter of cleverly combining
> existing technologies in new ways. The laptop will have a basic processor
> made by AMD, flash memory instead of a hard disk, will be powered by
> batteries or a hand-crank, and will run open-source software. The $100
> laptop also puts all the components behind the screen, not under the
> keyboard, so there is no need for an expensive hinge. So far, OLPC has got
> the price down to around $130.
>
> But good news for the world's poor, may not be such great news for the
> world's computer manufacturers. The new machine is not simply of interest in
> the developing world. On September 22nd, Mitt Romney, the governor of
> Massachusetts, said the state should purchase one for every secondary-school
> student, when they become available.
>
> Sales to schools are just one way in which the $100 laptop could change
> the computer industry more broadly. By depressing prices and fuelling the
> trend for "good-enough computing", where customers upgrade less often, it
> could eventually put pressure on the world's biggest PC-makers.
>
>
>  La vie est belle!
>
> Yosé (www.cordeiro.org <http://www.cordeiro.org>)
>
> Caracas, Venezuela, Americas, TerraNostra, Solar System, Milky Way,
> Multiverse
>

Well, what most people actually want from a laptop are word processing and
Net connectivity.
Everything else is secondary.

Dirk
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