One Laptop Per Child - Comments Page 1

The $100 laptop reminds me of Trevor Bayliss's hand cranked radio. Originally designed for areas with no mains power it became a cult 'toy' and sold very well to rich kids who were fascinated by the novelty as well as its functionality.

I'm neither poor nor in a powerless area, but I wouldn't turn down one of these laptops. It may be a 'gadget', but it could be a damned useful gadget for a wandering writer who doesn't need anything too fancy, just simple text input.

I currently use an old 8-bit Amstrad notebook for this kind of work. It only has about 8 lines of text visible at a time, will work with dry cell batteries at a pinch, and I'd love to be able to crank it up again by hand when the power drops.

Gyppo(UK)

The laptop in every lap sounds great. Who is paying for construction of the Internet infrastructure to allow communciations, such as VOIP, email, surfing, etc? Generally there is a monthly charge per connection not to mention, someone has to lay cable and maintain connectivity.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Given that these are being sold to government and educational institutions, I assume those entities would pay for the Internet access. And who needs cables? These things are wireless!

When I sent the first articles about this laptop to my school district technology coordinator, I got no comment. I later sent the link to all of the teachers in my school building and technology integration specialist. The teachers were excited but the word that I got back from our TIS was, "Well, if we (the State of Wasington) were to order a million Real Laptops we could get them for much less than $100. My comment was, "Just do it!"

EDITOR'S NOTE: With all due respect, that's ridiculous. If that kind of pricing existed, Negroponte and his very smart friends wouldn't have spent several years developing new technologies to make this possible. They would have just bought them!

As a person who has first-hand experience with a third world country in West Africa, I wish I could buy one today to send over to a child where I lived during my Peace Corps days.

I was just going to say "Barratt's an idiot" and leave it at that, but of course he's not, he knows that before long this creature will be a fully functional computer, he also knows that 3rd world kids from Madagascar to Cuba are performing wonders on machines that we'd laugh at, and it scares him.

On the positive side, between this and Ubuntu there's hope for spoiled rich kids yet!! :)

What about the kids in America that can't to eat ever night? Never mind afford a computer!!!!

I would emphasize the MIT link and background and just ignore Barratt. Giving voice to a vested interest is not news, its just whining. Ignore him.

Theres no particular reason a program could not be implemented in North America as well. A slightly more expensive unit (the "commercial version" mentioned on MITs site) could be sold here and used to fund the implentations elsewhere.

Don't forget the story - give a man a fish or teach him to fish... Knowledge is power.

And there is a lot of power in a mesh-networked system connected to a global library.

AMD is to be commended for their compassion on 3rd world children/adults, by their willingness to supply the necessary cpu's for the '$100 Computers.'

Unless you have actually lived (and I don't mean vacationed)among a really destitute population, you cannot comprehend how much any help is truly appreciated by kids and adults alike. I lived and worked nearly half of my adult life in third world countries. People begged me for paper and pencils which I gladly passed out. I can only image how they might react to this “gadget”. Its unfortunate that political and financial incentives have caused Americans to criticize the good works of others as well as ourselves. Our narrow mindedness continues to amaze me.

I'd be happy to pay $250 for one as it is described.

Give computers to Chinese and Egyptians? How many times will we repeat mistakes? I'm not the least interested in helping those who hate us and want to destroy this country... why not help "friends" only?
He'll probably send a batch to Iran and Syria too. Why not send a few hundred thousand to Louisiana!

On the surface it seems like a good idea but when I think of all the time I spend "maintaining" an operating computer and system, not to talk of virii, security, updates, system collapses, errors, etc.....

I also have trouble separating the intenet bulls..t from the real info and many of my friends and relatives keep sending me these "warnings" about "dangers" which are really urban legends. How are these "innocent" kids/adults going to know what is "real" and what is "not". But, if we are trying to bolster the Western Living Ideal Life, it seems to me to be a good idea. Then they'll really want all the tech goodies like we do.

The only "good work" I've read being done is when a really fine, well-educated teacher/ instructor/ knowledgeable person works with the kids. Where are these people going to come from?

Sounds like something Richard Branson might dream up for publicity. Mr. Negroponte has always seemed to me to be more of an ivory tower dreamer. I wonder if he has ever really worked in the field building irrigation canals, houses suited to the local climate or tried to get crops to grow and seeds to be viable. Call me cynical. There are much better ways to help these people.

I can't afford cable, and I certainly can't afford a computer for each of my kids, at current prices. If hand-crank versions were available I'd buy them for my kids, for me, and for my many nieces and nephews... I think it's a fantastic idea.
Bravo to those who help the world's kids. I don't care what their parents believe; this helps the kids.
(I just bought a hand-crank radio for my son for Christmas. I wish more "gadgets" had a hand-crank option.)

My heart bleeds for these poor kids of the world.I grew up in a poor broken home.But I feel that china will be our next great nemisis.I feel we are already helping them out enough by buying at wal-mart.I didnt see were any of these machines were going to the U.S., maybe thats just was takin for granted.Sounds like a great tool thow!

Hope you were joking about shopping at wal-mart :/
I think these are awsome, and you people who think we shouldn't help third world countires you are freeking nuts. You probably support us bringing democracy to iraq, but you slam people that want to help kids in other countries? This isn't even paid for by tax money (in other words you). I can't belive how close minded people are..

All I see is another 5-15 million more US tech jobs being offshored as soon as these kids reach working age. I wonder if in 20 years they'll be buying *our* kids computers?

I have wanted an extremely simple, yet useful, text entry "laptop" for a long time. My desktops at work and home suffice for all the real work I ever want to get done, and the ability to do some typing or other minor tasks when not at those desktops would be extremely useful to me, but not at the current cost of laptops out there now.

The entire computer industry pooh poohed a company that wanted to make inexpensive computers that would receive all their applications from remote servers rather than have each individual purchase and maintain the software. The benefits, besides cost, would be that the software would always be up to date. "They" said no one would want a dumb terminal, which is the unfortunate term for such a computer. Now, of course, it's cutting edge --- but it killed the IPO for that little company.

There is much here to tease apart:
1) Some computer is infinitely better than no computer -- the hand-cranked minimalist approach looks sensible to me, considering its environment.
2) Were I making my money from Wintel devices, this would cause me not to sleep well at night -- because potentially millions upon millions of people would have devices which don't need my technology for access and function.
3) No good deed goes unpunished -- as some others on this thread have suggested, distributing information power to those who have every reason to envy and hate the industrialized world in general and North America in particular may have some consequences which the initiators of this happy scheme may bitterly regret.

I can see a multitude of potential for an appliance of this nature. The colorations proposed were intended to discourage theft. Its use would create a potential of allowing a portable device that could potentially be linked to storage on your own network that then allows further work to be done on the file started on the crank-up now finished with a desktop or desktop replacement. It also allows the potential for saving backs/shoulders of the mobile computer user, by being lighter [batteries weigh]. Additionally the ruggedness would be an advantage for some that currently have difficultly in obtaining a laptop that could survive bumps and bounces [they exist but at a large premium.]

When will they be available in North America? A price higher than that for the 3rd world would still be acceptable for the utility [and to assist subsidizing distribution] perhaps with tax receipt deductions for the extra sum!