Slashdot Mirror
Get Ready For The Simputer
EccentricAnomaly writes: "CNN is reporting that the Simputer will roll out next month. The Simputer is a handheld computer running GNU/Linux starting at around $214 and is aiming to be an affordable computer for the third world that can be used even by the illiterate with its text-to-speech features. From the Simputer website: "The Simputer is a low cost portable alternative to PCs, by which the benefits of IT can reach the common man." Slashdot ran a story in May 2001 reporting the launch of the Simputer project." The same Reuters story is also found at the Hindustan Times.
If this piece of hardware didn't happen to run Linux the headline/summary/comment on the front page would have been dripping with sarcasm, contempt and ridicule. Don't get me wrong, it would be well deserved IMO, but I'm just saying... because it's a Linux story, it was put up with the straightest of faces. That's slashdot for ya. Go figure. Develop an idea that doesn't involve open source software that has even one significant flaw and it's "lame." Develop a stupid joke of an idea that runs linux and it's "pretty cool!"
This thing is stupid by the way. Completely idiotic. I actually thought it was some kind of joke at first.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?