U.N. Lends Backing to the $100 Laptop

willki wrote to mention an AP story stating that The United Nations has pledged support to the $100 Laptop. From the article: "Kemal Dervis, head of the U.N. Development Program, will sign a memorandum of understanding Saturday with Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of One Laptop per Child, on the $100 laptop project, at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. The program aims to ship 1 million units by the end of next year to sell to governments at cost for distribution to school children and teachers. UNDP will work with Negroponte's organization to deliver 'technology and resources to targeted schools in the least developed countries,' the U.N. agency said in a statement."

Comments

Keyboard Layout

[Azadre]

Will the $100 Notebook ship with the QWERTY Keyboard or will it be regional? (Arabesque, Hindi, Cryllic?)

Stomp the trolls right now

[porkThreeWays]

Mkay. I see this type of troll everytime these stories come up. These laptops aren't for starving children with hanta on their death beds. These are for children who live in poor nations, but are otherwise living and doing ok. Countries that education is their next step to becoming a modernized country. Their governments are concerned with getting their own people education right now, not feeding starving children half way around the world. It wasn't long ago they were the starving ones. You act as if the money would go to one or the other. That's not the case. If the money weren't going towards these laptops, it'd probably go right into their education systems.

And money isn't what those starving countries need. It's social order usually. America pays farmers for their food and buries it to control food prices. We have PLENTY of food to give away. Getting it in the hands of starving people is the problem. More often than not they will end up in the hands of warlords or destroyed. Throwing money at the problem isn't going to help those countries. Until dictator X is overthrown their people will continue to starve. And the UN isn't about raiding countries to overthrow dictators.