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Preview Of The $100 Laptop
cynical writes "Harvard's Ethan Zuckerman, founder of GeekCorps and Global Voices, got a chance last week to drop in on Nicholas Negroponte and get a preview of the $100 laptop Negroponte has designed for students in the developing world. Zuckerman talks about both its hardware and the One Laptop Per Child project, and asks the readers for suggestions for innovative ways the $100 laptop can be used." From the article: "The mockup I saw was about the size of a large paperback book. There's a stiff rubber gasket around the edge of the machine, which can double as a stand. The keyboard on the mockup was detachable, but will probably fold out on a hinge ... Two trackballs, surrounded by four way buttons, on each side of the screen act as controls, and function keys on the back act as additional buttons.)" We've previously reported on this device here on Slashdot.
"If Negroponte is able to mass produce this thing at a true $100 cost it will be revolutionary.
I wonder, however, why he only plans to offer this device to the developing world (...)?"
There are two reasons the manufacturing cost is so low:
1- They'll be shipped to the receiving country as parts. 10 million motherboards, 10 million displays, etc. and assembled in-place using local labor. So the assembly costs are not only low -- they're providing jobs in the country of use. Which instantly supplies a labor pool to upgrade / repair the units.
2- The component suppliers are subsidizing the cost of the parts with profits made from developed countries. One condition of this arrangement is that the $100 laptops cannot be sold here and undercut the profits.
As much as I think it'd be cool to buy one for $300, the best way to help is to buy a shiny Opteron.
Rick
Ahem. That huge information boom mostly only happened for the rich. (If you're here reading Slashdot, that almost definitely includes you. I'm not talking rich-as-in-drives-a-Bentley. Even if your car is ten years old and rusted out, at least you have one.)
This laptop is being designed for folks for whom an information boom would be textbooks and teachers. It's being designed for folks who have a hard enough time putting food on the table and clothing on their backs without dropping two months' paycheck on a piece of electronics. In fact, design flaw #1 on this thing is that it is a piece of electronics.
A computer is a not a magic make-everything-better device.
In fact, design flaw #1 on this thing is that it is a piece of electronics.
While I want to agree with you, I also think that there are counter-examples that electronics are not only beneficial but the correct solution to information needs for the poor. For example, radio and telephone are electroics-based technologies, but are crucial and successful even in poor and low-tech areas.
A critical element of success is that the electronics be reliable and easy to operate. These I think are the big challenges for something like a laptop, not the fact that it's built out of electronic parts.
--Pat