Does anyone here object to the $100 laptop project?

[Thtwudbeme]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2006/apr/04/040402895.html

If so, I would be interested in hearing your arguments.

[LaurenG]

1. Not me. It sounds like a nice thing to do even if it can't run

some programs.

[Thtwudbeme]

2. it sounds good to me too; I agree with you

but, I seem to remember that there were some folks here that said some negative things about them.

[mattclearing]

3. I can't imagine how anyone could.

What's not to like?

[MissB]

5. Bill Gates doesn't like 'em.

Imagine that.

[mattclearing]

7. Well, they don't have a hard drive.

And I don't like that. I certainly would rather have a Mac Book Pro. But I think it's a great thing for people with no laptop at all.

[FormerDittoHead]

31. The laptop includes wireless connectivity - storage can be done online. nt

[liberal N proud]

14. That would be one reason to support them

[MissB]

28. Works for me!

Plus, I understand they are going to use Linux. That works for me too. :D

[KeepItReal]

24. A machine without Windows(tm) could not possibly be a computer

His idea is an "ultra-mobile" PC (palmtop) costing about $600:

[Warpy]

4. The only criticism I have is his focus on CHILDREN

who need to be learning the basics before they get into computers.

One laptop per young adult isn't a bad idea, though.

I guess if you want backing for any sort of humanitarian idea, though, you have to yowl about how great it'll be for all the bay-bees before anyone will take it seriously.

[Orangepeel]

11. I THINK that the idea is that it can also serve as an infinite # of books

I'm not at all sure, but I think that I read that part of the idea is that in the long run (hell, even in the short run) it will be cheaper than books, which can help kids learn the basics. (I'm not sure how that works without a hard drive, though)

[Minnesota Libra]

6. I think it's a great idea and btw I use "firefox" and love it. I'll be...

....switching from "Outlook Express" in the near future to a Linux based email server and doubt I will have any complaints with that either.

This multi-millionaires simply don't like anyone using anything but their product - that's got to be their only argument - because nothing else makes sense.

[Sammy Pepys]

8. Sounds great.

Although I hope that some consideration will be given to food and health aid as well. Laptops are nice, but you can't eat them.

[gatorboy]

17. True, but it would help in educating hundreds of individuals.

To better their lives in the future, hopefully.

Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish....

[dorkulon]

9. No hard drive?

How's that gonna work?

Of course, this sounds like a wonderful idea--Bill Gates can go fellate a rhinocerous.

[ThoughtCriminal]

12. RAM

My Pocket PC does not have one - works fine but I don't store gigabytes of downloaded movies, music and porn on it. If it has something like a USB port, an external drive could be added.

Advantages:

1- low power
2- light weight
3- fast boot up
4- no moving parts
5- speed

[dorkulon]

13. Cool.

Yeah, makes sense--my old Apple IIe didn't have a HDD, and now with all the RAM in these things...still, seems like you'd need more than just these obsolete floppy discs for storage...CD-writers I guess.

But what about software--could you still install an application? would you need to run the disc every time? Do I sound retarded?

[ThoughtCriminal]

15. OS and core apps can be stored in ROM

Like on Pocket PCs and Palm PDAs. Applications could either be downloaded and installed or loaded from an external device (CD/DVD/Memory Stick/Hard Drive).

I'm guessing that the internal RAM-drive would be only a few hundred megabytes at best, but that is really quite adequate for most applications that are not real media-intensive. Windows and huge hard drives have encouraged "Fatware" applications that eat up hundreds of megabytes.

[ThoughtCriminal]

10. I'd like one too

Even though I'm up to my ears in Windows computers - sort of like having a bicycle even though I have car.

The price is probably not much better than a comparable 5+ year old used laptop, but this design allows for low power consumption, standardization and hopefully higher reliabliity.

[Igel]

16. I don't know.

Honestly, this is the kind of thing where there are so many possible benefits and so many possible drawbacks that without seeing them in place and how they work out, I can't tell.

Many people view computers as a Good Thing. I think of them as a tool; they're neither a plus or a minus, it depends what you need and use them for.

Plus:
Access to textbooks, to the Internet and searches;
access to greater reading materials and current events, and
the ability to communicate via e-mail with others;
the possibility of becoming computer literate and having that assist in
the creation of a broader economic base, and train the kids for some sort of job.

Minus:
They don't have textbooks or as many to hold--if the computer is broken, stolen, or sold, they're SOL. If the program falters, the computers lose their value, while textbooks would continue: you don't need up to date textbooks to teach math and reading.
They may not have easy internet access: some countries where the computers would be most needed also have crappy infrastructure; the peer-to-peer pass-through wifi networking might quickly become peer-to-peer pass-through molasses as individual computers become crucial nodes in the chain.
There's no guarantee that they'll have e-mail accounts.
The kinds of jobs that require computers are not likely to be quickly forthcoming; many of the countries, moreover, are direct competitors--train the teenagers to have nifty computer skills, and in 10 years they have nifty jobs that used to be American (the upside is that they have a higher standard of living ... standards of living tend to even themselves out without borders to stop it). Another result may be a mass of young adults with low computer skills and raised expectations all after the same jobs, and unwilling to milk the yak or plow the manure under in the family garden.
Reliance on the internet for information is, IMHO, a bad thing until a person's about 30. I've heard too many college professors complaining that their undergrad students cannot distinguish insanely inaccurate information from reasonable information; give kids a small set of books with an official imprimature, and you shelter them until they've at least accepted a core set of facts of agreed-upon reliability. This ignores the issue of censorship and informational restrictions, which obtains with printed textbooks as well as with the 'net; except that textbooks, by reason of their size and tendency to become outdated, tend to be a bit more sedate in their populism, nationalism, and ideological fervor.

Migration will cause the kids to relocate with the computer, or the population may expand: Either way, a net computer deficit. What do you do when you have 120 kids and 110 computers, how do you deal with the kinds of stresses that causes--require that all the computers stay in school? Force them to share ... with punishment if they don't? Likewise, if they break: they might get wet, overheated, or otherwise damaged.

While the computers may allow greater corpus support for minority languages, that also may not be a good thing since it'll decrease reliance on the local or regional language, and reinforce the use of English or another international language as the interdialect; OTHO, great exposure to the national languages might well assist the extinction of local languages while increasing their employability.

Computer games will ensue, in short order. A great time kill, when these kids surely have something better to do.

Let's just ignore the fact that I've typed so much in the last 25 years that my already bad handwriting is now only really legible to my wife, and that maybe 75% of the time. She's better at reading it than I am. I sent my parents my new address 15 years ago, and didn't hear from them for a few months--I was in a dorm, no phone. Turns out they couldn't read the address; it's worse now.

In short, I can't tell if it's a good thing or bad thing. It has great potential to go either way, or merely shift the status quo gently.

[northzax]

18. sure. it's a waste of money

well, maybe not waste, but, as someone pointed out above, you can't eat a computer, you can't drink a computer, you can't live in a computer. computers don't cure diarrhea, malaria or dysyntery. Computers don't vaccinate people against yellow fever.

it's a nice idea, but really, not that useful in the real world.

[KeepItReal]

19. It is an educational tool. No more. No less. Terrific idea, IMHO

(eom)

[northzax]

22. right

but for a hundred dollars a person, you could basically eliminate yellow fever and malaria. you could reduce the infant mortality rate by 50%. think of what the heifer project could do with $100/head. what good is a handcranked laptop when your well is polluted?

it's a world of finite resources, this is the rough equivalent of starving three kids to send the lucky one to prep school.

[KeepItReal]

25. That's what other NGO's are for, northzax. The Carter Center for one.

These people (M.I.T. and Google) are trying to contribute in an area of expertise they know something about with the One Laptop Per Child Project.

I support the Carter Center for doing just what you mentioned on the humanitarian/health issues. I'll support One Laptop Per Child on the educational tip.

[northzax]

26. resources are resources

money is money. they want to brand their donations, which is fine, but I'd rather see their money go to basic public health and sanitation projects, instead of this pie in the sky idea.

yes, other NGOs are doing health and sanitation, but they are chronically underfunded. This project won't help any of the instant issues. Plus, there are cheaper and better ways to educate people in the first place.

[KeepItReal]

30. I don't think starving kids in Darfur are gonna get 'em

...before getting food and basic medical care.

They are not going be airdropped on poor villages in place of food and water and medicine.

Check out the project's info and how they are gonna work in concert with countries who wish to provide this inexpensive education technology for their children.

http://laptop.org/

[Thtwudbeme]

20. But, they aren't wasting "your" money. This is private, not from

taxes.

So, why do you care about that?

Don't you think it's good that while there are so many agencies that are out there thinking about food and diarrhea, that there are others thinking about education?

[northzax]

27. well I guess

we might as well educate the half of the kids who make it to 5.

and it's not my money when someone buys a million dollar mcmansion, but I can still call it a waste, right?

[walldude]

32. Really...

"computers don't cure diarrhea, malaria or dysyntery. Computers don't vaccinate people against yellow fever." Well computers aren't doctors but they have contributed to the advancement of medicine in ways you obviously haven't thought of. A computer is like any other scientific tool, it can be used to create or destroy depending on the user....

[northzax]

33. hundred dollar laptops with a hand crank?

going to solve disease? ok.

Hey, I'll give you an option. I'm going to strand you in the middle of a desert. You can pick having either a gallon of water a day, or a laptop. which do you pick?

[blogslut]

21. It's a nice idea

Although, I'm more in favor or refurbishing old desktops and laptops as I believe hardware waste will eventually become a problem. I dig the low power crank thing :)

[LoZoccolo]

23. Not inherently, but there's a case to be made...

...that displacing too much traditional curriculum with technology and it's maintenance is counterproductive. I read this in a book called High-Tech Heretic that came out around the dotcom boom.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385489757

The cost factor seems to be mitigated with this new project, but it also seems like a lot of features have been mitigated too. I'm not really passionate either way. Maybe I'd like to see more Internet access for everyone at libraries (which does get used, as I've seen at the library here).

[deminks]

34. Might work,

for me, I have the cold shivers about the brother of the death squad guru heading up this project. But that is just me.

[applegrove]

29. I think they sound amazing!!!