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The Hundred-Buck PC

Posted by michael on from the buy-two-get-one-free dept.

skreuzer writes "MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte has a plan to build a $100 PC for the developing world, which is supposedly going to have a 14-inch color screen and run on Linux, has the backing of AMD, Google, Motorola, Samsung, and News Corp. Apparently they're all getting mixed up in a joint-venture to produce the PC, which will be sold directly to governments only."

3 of 562 comments (clear)

  1. The REAL question is.... by alan_dershowitz · · Score: 5, Funny

    How many mouse buttons does it have, dammit?

  2. Idea of the VIC-20 Lives! by reporter · · Score: 5, Funny
    This idea of setting an arbitrarily low price, $100 in this case, for a personal computer (PC) and building the most features into the PC is simply a rehash of the idea behind the VIC-20. About 20 years ago, the management of now defunct Commodore predetermined the price of the new home computer to be $200 because management felt that such a low price point would be attractive for the intended market. Then, Commodore engineers added as many features as they could into the new computer. Commodore marketing called it the "VIC-20", and William Shatner (ugh!) served as the spokesman in the print (and TV?) advertisements.

    Maybe, MIT should call the new computer the "VIC-10" and ask Shatner if he wants to do some ads for it. I wonder how the audience in Vietnam would feel if they see William Shatner being dubbed to speak Vietnamese?

  3. Picture of the new device by Sophrosyne · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here is a great leaked picture of the new sub 100$ computer:
    Here