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Intel Calls $100 Laptops Undesired Gadgets
dolphinlover writes "Craig Barrett, Intel Corporation chairman believes that the $100 laptop computers to be manufactured by the MIT media lab run by Nicholas Negroponte beginning in early 2006 are merely 'gadgets', making them unattractive to consumers who will be disappointed by their 'limited range of programs'." From the article: "Negroponte said at their launch in November the new machines would be sold to governments for schoolchildren at $100 a device but the general public would have to pay around $200 -- still much cheaper than the machines using Intel's chips. But Barrett said similar schemes in the past elsewhere in the world had failed and users would not be satisfied with the new machine's limited range of programs."
Next week: Bill Gates denounces its operating system.
I thought the whole point of these laptops was for people in far poorer countries who could not possibly hope to afford anything remotely as good as these anyway... I can hardly see people living in Brazilean shanty-towns saying "this laptop can't hash files fast enough"... Besides I'd buy one just because they sound impossible to destroy and it would be good to take to uni and have kicking around in my bag; I'd only need notepad anyway.
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
If they're as good as they sound then I'd buy one. I think laptops today are rather stupid. To slow to do anything demanding power and yet hot, noisy, and power hungry. I'd rather have something light, quiet, with a long battery life that does the basics I need - web, email, im, ssh, light word processing, and light image manipulation. I'll be surprised if the $100 laptop can't handle those and more.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Of course, Intel is going to say that.
Quite obviously, when you are going to be selling an entire computer at the price of their processors and motherboards, they're going to be pissed.
Sure, I could use a dual athlon if I'm running the latest game or doing some serious number crunching - but for a user in an developing country with limited funds, the choice is definitely beneficial.
Today's computers have a lot of crap that most users don't use - but they have them anyway. The idea of a computer is to be a tool - give those people a simple, straightforward system that a user can truly use in doing their job, and you'd have gone far.
Of course, given the choice, companies like Intel would sell a $500 processor to a poor man who'd have no use for it. But that doesn't mean the idea itself is flawed. If anything, it's a nice way to help bring technology to the needy, and give them a chance.
I've seen the use of some of these technologies (MIT's Michael Best does some work on e-development -- they've some really nice work) - and they truly are helpful. Just because it doesn't help Intel's bottom penny doesn't mean it's useless. Given time, I'm fairly certain that it would be proven so.
Not that he doesn't have a particular bias, but he's probably right in that these devices are not going to be laptops like most people think of them. Instead they're more like special-purpose hardware for special-purpose software, something like the PDA you mention only marketed as a laptop. That's not to say these won't have a place, because I do think they could very well serve the purpose for which they're being manufactured.
I don't know if it's so much that AMD snatched the opportunity, but that their lower power chips are much better suited for cheap overall cost of production.
What's more useful? A billion dollars to immigrate the poor or a billion dollars to educate the poor?
You can give them all the food in the world but if you don't educate them what's te point?
You know "give a man a fish, feed for a day, teach a man to fish..." which is odd because the USA is the largest pro-jesus country in the world and they totally ignore the positive teachings. They're all cool with frying people on an electric chair. I mean that's justice. But teach some wetback how to add or multiply and you're just a socialist commie freak and should be smited...
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
FTA:
"It turns out what people are looking for is something is something that has the full functionality of a PC," he said. "Reprogrammable to run all the applications of a grown up PC... not dependent on servers in the sky to deliver content and capability to them, not dependent for[sic] hand cranks for power"
Uhm, as opposed to be dependant on a power grid infrastructure, centralized power plants, money to pay for the power, and whatnot? Truly an ugly piece of competition diss.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the light cone.
Wasn't that HP?
seriously: go to this website
http://laptop.media.mit.edu/faq.html
and then tell me what the heck this thing does? it basically networks with other machines like itself, and then it does... nothing! no hint as to how it will help children. its got more marketing fluff than a white house press conference.
let's be honest, MIT is throwing these things out there with hopes that someone will figure out the killer app for them. they remind me of the HP-95x: a whiz-bang DOS machine that ran on 2AA batteries, and it bombed. if this thing is designed to surf the web and do email, then why not go with a cheaper cell phone technology like southeast asia? what is it supposed to do?
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
And as a matter of course, you may find developers catering to these little boxes, whether its some way to add new software, games, or cater to whatever browser is on them.
Anything of which there are a million or more sounds like a market, no?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Good lord, is there always an idiot who has to come up with these comments on all articles related to technology?
Seriously - stop and think for a moment. Technology has definite uses. And it's what's keeping us the edge over one another.
Even if you are a farmer, being able to predict the rains, know about prices, fertilizers and the like helps. In the past (late 70s/80s, I think), in some parts of the south, India had a programme to help fishermen be informed about storms and the like by having a special radio channel that broadcast such information. They gave all the fishermen free transistor radios and told them to use it - and guess what? Several lives were saved, productivity increased and people in general were happy. And some started using their system for other purposes, like listening to alternate channels - because it's enough if there is one fisherman who knew what was going on. A whole system was developed within the community to this end, and everything improved as a whole - people were coordinating the whole process, resulting in much better productivity. It had benefits that the original creators did not even see.
There are always more pressing needs, and the only way you are going to take care of those needs is by making them self sufficient. This is a tool to that end.
You cannot forsee or predict how these tools will be used. But the only way to find out is to develop the tool and see how far it goes. Sure, it might be an absolute failure - but you would have tried, and you would have learnt.
Better than not doing anything, IMHO.
I would love a few of these. A notebook for each kid, and one for mommy and daddy too. They are cheap. They don't have power cords to worry about. We can take them anywhere. They are cheap. They claim they are durable. I can write software for my kids. They are cheap. There is a large quantity of open source apps just waiting to be ported.
Did I mention you can put me on the waiting list?
This was said before, but to say something like this sounds like a marketing attack.
:P
How could one find these laptops to be underpowered? Either:
1. You know you paid $100 for it, so you couldn't expect much anyway! (Even if you paid $200 because you live in a western country)
2. You never had access to a computer before - let alone a (n extremely) portable one - and you'll astounded at how much stuff you can do.
Even disregarding this, these things should be impressive machines for what they're worth; they run Linux, which is a tremendous platform for doing stuff your way. I bet a quite nice hacking community will form around them.
The people at Sun who were projecting the Network Computer some eight years ago are probably having a warm fuzzy feeling in their bellies right now
(P.S. The same thing applies with printers.)
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
For one thing, the hacker community will be on these immediately, and I expect them to have a lot more functionality when that kicks in. I also look forward to having a laptop that I can use in less than ideal environments without fear of loosing something much more expensive. Last, I don't mind paying more for the device if it helps fund the project somewhat and helps provide the laptops for people less fortunate.
WWJD -- What Would Jimi Do?
(Smash amp, burn guitar, take home the groupies)
Well, MIT doesn't grow corn. They don't research AIDS cures. Other people are doing these things. MIT is helping the best way MIT can. MIT helps by building you a computer.
Amazing...MIT would be drawing 100% less criticism right now if they'd simply sat on their hands and done *nothing*. Why is it to get rotten egged off the podium in this world, all you have to do is volunteer to help?
Here's a little tidbit to mull over. Dell is presently the highest volume laptop company in the world. Dell sells their Inspiron B120 laptop for $500 and their Lattitude 610 laptop for $1,000. Which do you think sells more? The much cheaper B120 for $500? No! The best selling laptop that Dell has ever had has been and continues to be the Lattitude 610 at fully twice the price of the B120!
;-))
Yet the B120 still sells well enough for Dell to keep it in its lineup. Which means that there's a market for cheap PCs, even if it isn't as large as the market for more expensive PCs. The question then comes to: Can this company sell enough cheap PCs to be profitable? The answer to that depends entirely on the size and complexity of their operations.
In theory, their costs might be low now that the product is developed. So now they only have to recoup the costs of R&D. But wait! What about product support? In computers, Tech Support is always one of the most expensive components. How is tech support handled in their business model? Are they saving money by outsourcing to an overseas facility? (Perhaps hiring the very people they trained with these laptops?
It's definitely a complex issue. Just saying "market X is bigger than market Y" does not resolve it.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
The easiest things in the world to be are a critic and a cynic, and yet many of us wear it like it's a badge of honor.
My linux distro all that and an office suite, educational software, graphics editing (vector and raster), desktop publishing, and a great compiler suite that just happens to be the same one as above, except newer. Oh yes, and the source code to every single program on the box. Were the programs "first tier"? Well, some less than others -- but they were at least there to use.
It's truly baffling that you can buy a $2000 Mac and not even end up with a basic word processing program or spreadsheet on it -- especially when that software can be had for free. Owning a Mac is like a owning a Jeep -- pay once to own it, then pay continuously to use it.
Apple's OS has no business anywhere near this project -- it's a gloriously decorated desktop operating system designed for people that can justify paying thousands of dollars for a photo editing program. Id est no one outside of California. I certainly can't afford it -- I had to fink my way to a fully functional desktop box since the missus wouldn't switch from Linux without the equivalent of Open Office, Scribus, The GIMP and Inkscape. The "first tier" commercial equivalents of those programs would have cost me significantly more than the computer itself.
Liberty you never use is liberty you lose.
these are not to be sold at CompUSA or even walmart..... if they read the specs and explanations for these they would know that they are not intended to be state of the art, and they cost $100 each in quantities of a million or something. the one prototype or mockup that was posted here before even had a crank to generate power because they are going to be used in places either without electricity or with unreliable electricity. if somebody is in that situation i don't think they will give a crap how well the machine can run Doom (or whatever the hip game is now). it's more of a "my first sony" approach than Apple Powerbook. that being said even for $200 it may be fun to have one?
i say more power to them. if they can get them out there and run some lo-fi linux software then great. they will be able to load them with edu software and possible some form of internet access? if it works maybe we will see some form of freeware educational e-books. it seems like a noble effort to help educate people. honestly if there was no other way to do it, wouldn't loading educational stuff on something akin to a Palm Pilot be better than nothing? you figure Palm was selling handhelds for $99 retail a while back. buying a million, being non-profit and a few years of trickle down technology makes me think it is possible.
It does not follow that if a more pressing need is not yet addressed, that other needs should be ignored.
We really need a cure for cancer, but that's no reason to postpone arthritis research.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Not to say whether OS X was the best option for this laptop or not (I suspect not), but all of those apps you mentioned for Linux are also available for OS X. You only own it like a jeep if you choose to. ;)
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
PDA... too small of screen, too expensive (especially with a solar battery charger), more fragile, too awkward or slow input, and some probably have exposed screens (I haven't looked at PDA's so dunno about that last one).
Even disregarding that last one, I'll pass and take the laptop.
Do you really see Intel being pushed out of PCs by something that's not even close to the capability of their products?
No. You misunderstood my post. I don't see Intel being pushed out of PCs. And I never said that it would happen. What I meant is simply that this gadged has a potential of hurting Intel's bottom line so much that it made Intel react. How much is that? I don't know. Hopefully enough to make MIT people happy.
Why do we keep using that phrase, "computer literate" when what we mean is "computer savy?" If we let ths poor analogy to be codified in the language, it will become that much more entrenched. As if understanding computers opens anywhere near the possibilites that being able to read does.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Those of us who have actually been following the design of this device know full well that a 'normal' notebook screen is no damned good, and this device will have quite a different display technology.
Reason? The device has to be usable outdoors, in full sunshine. Many of the target locations run classes outdoors. You ever tried using a lappy in strong sunshine?
Actually, for many users, power bricks are pointless, not (just) because of the non-standardisation of output power required, but for the non-standardisation and non-existence of power input. To build universal devices, they have to run in areas without mains power.
Frankly, your donated laptop would be of severely limited use to many developing areas that are truly without computing. Might be of some use in semi-developed areas, mind.
The only thing you can accurately describe as "Scotch" is a sticky tape made by 3M. And it's
Hey as long as it runs Linux, the children of the world can play Nethack. It brings a tear to my eye.
You got modded "Funny", but as long as it can run Linux, I don't think there's going to be a shortage of software to run on it. And at $100 or so, that's less then what the original Palm devices sold for. Look how many applications were developed and written for the PalmOS.
As long as we (the public) can purchase these in lots of 1 or 2, I suspect the manufacturers won't be able to meet demand.
Barrett sounds like typical, Intel-style, sour-grapes. Something tells me that they're upset that these systems won't be based on over-priced Intel chips. (Or that, if they were involved, they got shunted to the side due to costs or licensing issues.)
Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
i wonder if powerhungry processors and the electric generators necessary to power them are the actual root of global warming.
wonder not, it has nothing to do with how much power is being used, but rather the _source_ of the power is fossil fuels. the earth used to be a lot hotter, in fact at one point in time the entire planet was covered with magma. global warming won't quite acheive that level, but we can easily reach jurassic era warmth... just a few more decades of reliance on good old coal and oil, and we'll have the co2 levels needed to bring the earth to a level of warmth not seen since dinosaurs ruled the earth.
There are alternatives, thankfully, we already have a fusion reactor with about 10 trillion times the energy reserves of every molecule of hyrdogen and helium on the surface of the earth. some people call it the 'sun.' and currently there are this things called 'algea' that are up to 65% efficient at converting that energy into hydrocarbons (in this case vegatable oil). keep in mind photovotaics are lucky to see efficiencies in the 30% range (and much more likely in the 10-15% range)
and keep in mind that the original design for the diesel engine ran on straight up vegatable oil. luckily, biodiesel conversion is a fairly low energy consumption process, so you only loose a few points of the efficiency of the plant in converting it into a readily usable form.
another thing to note is that vegitable oil can be readily stockpiled, as can biodiesel, whereas photovotaics leaves you completely at the mercy of available sunlight. algae will simply grow more slowly when there is insuficient sunlight. by simply growing 'more than demand' one can stockpile the oils and always have a stable source of electricity or fuel for automobiles.
30 years ago when everyone last thought we were running out of oil, there was heavy research into bio fuel alternatives, but by the time the research had concluded oil prices had fallen to much lower price figures. currently known reserves of oil that could be tapped have about 100 years worth of fuel at the current rate of consumption growth, but some of that oil will be vastly more expensive to exploit, and some of it is too high in sulpher to be usable without first processing it to remove the sulphur, which would drastically increase the cost. luckily biofuels (produced from less efficient soybeans etc, which have energy yeilds in the 1-3% range) are already profitable at the $2-3 a gallon range, so hopefully someone gets on the ball with mass producing algea oil to make bio fuel, because just looking at the raw energy yeild numbers, algea should be able to produce a lot more oil for a lot less cost than soybeans... of course since the obvious place to locate algea is out to sea the cost of ships, aquaculture nets, etc to harvest and grow it is higher, but the fact that one doesn't need to own the ocean to put the aquaculture nets out there, offsets that slightly...
the big problem is the lack of people with vision, to develop and gamble in the future of bio fuels... back in the 1980's people risked big putting money into these companies that were going to grow this asian plant here in the states called 'soybeans' and well, soybeans didn't pan out quite as good as the people hoped, but soybean oil is a lot cheaper than other oils because of all the people who put money into growing a plant that people thought had no market... and most of the biofuels we make come from common crops like corn and soybeans...
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
If Apple can't install an application with a great interface in their base install, I don't think they'd want to add it at all.
If the user wants to add it themselves later, fine. It's easy, but they probably think it's better than folks complaining about the crappy interface of 'that mac software'. I think that's the reason they give a pass to most of the free stuff out there.
You are right: these won't be what "most people" (ie those of us who read slashdot or use computers on a daily basis for work, etc.) think of when they think laptop. However, these $100 machines are not intended for us, but instead for poor people who can't afford what we use and for folks in poor countries where trchnology is otherwise too expensive. Of course these won't replace WIntel mahcines, but that is not the targeted market. They don't currently have computers because they can't afford to shell-out a year's wages for one, not because they don't want them or have uses for them.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
So many, many things wrong with this post. But the only point I want to put across is that the governments or philanthropic organisations will be buying these to distribute to people, most of whom will only be making a dollar or two a day. Has everyone forgotten how exciting it was to see the Donkey Kong handheld, the Atari 2600 or even heck the Commodore 64? Add in the internet connection, and this will be ultra cool - for usage at least, because fingers crossed a lot of people will have them... And as for having more important things to do than handcrank a computer, there are more developing countries with poor people on them than the hot warzones or drought areas that are on the nightly news. I get the impression some people think aid agencies will spend money on computers rather than emergency food. And remember, $100 worth of portable computer is far better than $100 of weapons or landmines.
Yes, and they have infinitely more power than NO computer at all, as the current situation with most third world schoolchildren is.
Hell, if I were one of them, I'd love to get such a device, because it is definitely better than nothing.
Windows is like decaf - it tastes like the real thing, but it won't get you through the day.