Belgium: A Computer in Every Home

joost writes "In an article published online by Belgian newspaper 'Het Nieuwsblad' (sorry only a dutch link), Belgian minister Miss Laurette Onkelinx speaks about her plan to provide every Belgian household with a computer. The minister is (amongst other things) responsible for 'equality' and therefore pushes the plan to provide the less fortunate with a pc. In the same article, she said she already started talking to Compaq for the hardware and Microsoft for the OS. Belgian Linux users are starting a campaign to petition Miss Onkelinx's departement, explaining their concern about the decision, and advising to look towards linux for an alternative.(more on be.comp.os.linux) You too can send an email by clicking here."

Comments

It's been tried (sort of)...

[suss]

Maybe they should learn a lesson from this: Free PCs for the poor on sale in black market... not everyone wants a PC, some people would rather have food and other basic needs.

English translation!

[vrt3]

Well, I did it myself in a hurry, so it's not perfect. First, the correct link to the newspaper article in Dutch. Next, my attempt to translate it:

"Computer for every family" - 10/01/2002

Minister Onkelinx wants to eliminate the fact that lower incomes lag behind on IT

If it depends on federal minister for Equal Opportunities Laurette Onkelinx, every Belgian family will shortly own a PC. She is serious about it, since she already started talking with software gigant Microsoft and PC producer Compaq.

"Today not nearly everyone has access to the new technologies, that keep getting more and more important, especially on the labour market", Onkelinx says in an interview with La Dernière Heure. "To change that situation, we have started negotiations with multiple partners. We're talking to the European Investment Bank, and they seem to like the project. Further, we have alreadt talked with Compaq and Microsoft."

"We have indeed had contact with cabinet Onkelinx. Being the leader in the PC market, we should of course be interested in such a project", says Thierry Van Bever from Compaq. "There needs to talked more; nothing is definitive." A similar sound from Microsoft: "We were addressed for our operating system", spokeswoman Els Stevens confirmed.

It's not clear who was the right to a computer with Internet access. It's also not decided yet how it will (possibly) cost to the families. The minister doesn't doubt the project will turn out well: "I hope to be ready for all modalities in March. Thousands of families will then have a computer and internet access at their disposal. Moreover, it concerns not only families with the lowest incomes."

Number of PCs

The number of PCs per hundred inhabitants in our county was 31 in March 2001, as follows from a survey by ICTA, the Association of Information and Communication Industries. That leaves us in the middle of the European pack, after the Netherlands and Ireland, but before Germany and Great Britain. In what way that translates to the families, is not clear. According to a survey by the Communication department, by the end of 1999 already 58% of the families had a computer. 7% of the people who where questioned said they were considering the purchase of a PC in 2000.

Concerning the number of internet connections, we're slowly running ahead of the European average. In the European Union, 30% of the families had an internet connection by the end of 2000; in Belgium it was 31%. Besides, our country is the best cabled in the world, which gives us a headstart with the distribution of broadband internet. What's more, Belgium is world leader in the development en production of ADSL.