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State Of The Simputer
2br02b writes "Readers might recall the Simputer (Simple, Inexpensive, Multilingual Computer) whose story Slashdot has been following over the past few years, including its release in October 2002 and most recently the Scientific American article in November. Rediff.com has an informative overview on the status of what was introduced as a low-cost computer for the poor to be sold for under Rs 10000 ($200). Of the two companies that have been given licences, one has yet to put the product on the market while the other is only looking at bulk sales at prices from Rs 12000 to Rs 20000 ($400). Only between 1500 and 2000 Simputers are out on the market."
HOw about we concentrate on basic human needs like food, clean, running water and shelter before we go doling out handhelds to people?
I'm not at all against technology education and maximizing its use wherever possible, but there truly are some things that must take priority here.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
So now pricing it up there with laptops and high end handhelds will get it selling? Wasn't the whole point of the simputer as computing for the masses and not the uber-rich? (Yes kiddies, you are considered Uber rich to 4/5ths the worlds' population.)
Another great idea tanked by a bunch of PHB's
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
isn't there a better way to provide computing technology to the third-world masses? perhaps someone should start a program for donating old, outdated computers for the good of poorer nations. (if there isn't already one)
To be so close to having a computer accessible by all. It is hard to estimate what the implications could have been if everyone, every where had access to a computer. But of course the inventors yet again failed to factor in corporate greed.
If you don't stop reading this right now you owe me $1,000. Send check or money order too...
An idea like this sounds fantastic - but is riddled with potential problems.
If they produce something with low capabilities, but a low, low price, then they will be accused of producing underpowered rubbish.
As soon as you start to increase the potential of the platform, the costs start to rise until you have an elitist product that the intended market cannot afford.
There *may* be a happy medium somewhere, but the edvil is in the details of finding it. In the consumerist marketplace we have in the West, production prices are already pushed as low as possible. Squeezing out extra pennies in production is almost impossible. The potential is there though to reduce prices through the marketing and adminitration side of things (pay no fat-cat salaries to the sales & management departments), but then again the product quickly becomes unfashionable and therefore undesirable.
I would love to see such a product to succeed, but it's a hell of an uphill stuggle!
A little planning goes a long way...
If that's where our tech support and software development jobs are going, then their wages will go up, and an increasing number of them will be able to afford the simputer, right? As for those knee-jerkers who say, "let's provide food, water, etc. first" please remember that this is being marketed and sold by a private company that has no obligation to address those sorts of social problems. If anything, increasing a country's tech literacy helps increase the general prosperity
They fucked up. $400 is way too expensive for a poor indian person to afford.
"Well, it's not a cheap computer.
Its proponents have since discarded the buzzword -- 'cheap computer' -- that brought the Simputer into the limelight.
"We are not making a cheap computer. We are making a sophisticated device that will make computing possible for everyone," declares Professor Manohar."
What a crock of bull. How is computing possible for "everyone" when "most" Indians can't afford to spend $400 on a PDA?
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I guess 200-400$ aren't that little for a poor Indian. Apart from that fact that I have to wonder whatfor people living in some **** slum need a computer!
I'm not sure how it works in India, but it is probably (please correct me if I'm wrong) similar to the Philippines where the average college graduate makes about $300 / month.
If you assume that the average college graduate in the US makes $3k - $4k / month, then a fair comparison would be a $3500 computer in the U.S. to a $300 computer in the Philippines (or perhaps, India). From an expense point of view, it is likely to be affordable (although certainly a luxury).
But to imagine that these people do not wish to communicate, learn and reach out to the world through the Internet is fairly ignorant. In my experience with families from the third world, a computer (and even a broadband connection, which can be had for pennies on our dollars) is more desirable than a telephone or television.
My conclusion? The simputer may not fit the bill, but the need and economics are right on.
The reason that it can be true that 1+1 > 2 is that very peculiar nonzero value of the + operator
1. AA batteries, not AAA or fixed rechargeable Li-ION. AAA have a terribly low capacity (~450mAh compared to up to 1900mAh for AA).
2. Cheap and robust external power supply. Batteries are expensive.
2. B&W screen, for godsake. Color is luxury, make a high-contrast large, protected B&W screen that can show decent amounts of information.
3. Little chiclet keyboard that plugs in to a mini-USB slot. Something like the old Spectrum keyboards, cheap, nasty, unbreakable.
That would make it cheaper and more useful. Imagine a computer you'd happily give to an 10-year old, no matter if it breaks.
Lastly, I'd add bluetooth because it's a tiny extra cost, only a few $, and provides unbreakable networking and connectivity better than any physical connection, and make the whole thing run on a stripped-down embedded Linux.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
You forgot the word "subsidised".
I think quite possibly what he meant is that they can use the computers to learn about ways of improving their farming, to learn to dig wells, etc.
Knowledge is power, as they say...
Daniel
Carpe Diem
It's strange how SimCity, SimCoaster, SimSafari and the Sims all were priced normally, and yet SimPuter appears to be behind schedule and way overpriced.
Perhaps moving development offshore isn't the cost saver it's been promoted as.
:)
For example: If you give poor farmers in Africa, India, ... computers, they could use them to improve there farming and harvest more food or to make a better profit selling their harvest.
3rd world farmers suffer more from trade barriers, dumping by the US and Europe, beauracracy and wars than a lack of efficiency
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This sig is inoffensive.
Not long ago, the guys from encore gave a talk at our local lug on the simputer and from what i could gleam, they now seem to be moving towards customizing the simputer for special sectors like Manufacturing cos., etc., instead of relying too much on it's original purpose to fund themselves. You can find slides from the talks here.
>>They can use the computers to learn about ways of improving their farming...
So what's wrong with a photocopied pamphlet or even a book? Hundreds, perhaps thousands of booklets could be printed for the cost of one of these computers.
If the goal is the distribution of information, this is the wrong tool for the job.
Currently in india, as soon as a community gets electric power, the first thing they buy is a TV.
The tv becomes their gateway to the rest of the world-- a one way feed.
if you really want, you should build a computer that costs 150$ linux machine and uses the tv as a monitor-- i think that would be a more ideal solution. Basically, if walmart can make linux machines and sell them at $200, it shouldn't be that much harder to bring the price down by 50.
in cost in rupees, that would be 7500/- cheaper than the simputer.
I know ya'll like pictures and here are some (before the final outer design):
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Use of Simputer for Spot Billing of Electricity Metering
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