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Microsoft OS Smart Phone for Developing Nations
YesSir writes "The New York Times is reporting that Microsoft CTO Craig J. Mundie and Bill Gates are talking about the idea of a specially designed cellphone that could be converted into a full-fledged computer through a connection to a TV and keyboard. They hope to use this product to bring computing to the masses in developing nations and be a Windows powerd alternative to Nicholas Negroponte's $100 free open-source powerd laptop."
I gues this proves the old argument that cellphone's of today are stronger than the pc's of yesterday...
All indicators show that the human race is selectively breeding itself for stupidity.
Jesus, Bill, leave the poor third world alone. You can't squeeze blood from a turnip, you know. But an Ethiopian! You can sure squeeze blood from them. So have at it, if you must. *sigh*
Long Live Sig Vicious.
Here's a great example of the closeminded view seen at Microsoft so often. He can't get his mind about the concept that to make a developing nation customer pay for their operating system, or for the software needed to use it, is a tad obscene when there's a free or nearly free alternative.
Crippling the hardware to make up for this software royalty (ever try producing a large document on a mobile phone screen?) isn't the answer. I'm not sure Negroponte has it right either - low cost PC boxes and CRT monitors that are unsellable in the West are going to be a cheaper alternative in the short term .
Hey, be careful of overpromising, Bill.
Continuing with the idea that cell phones, PDAs, and eventually laptops are going to merge. When you've got enough power in a wallet-sized device to do all your email, messaging, web browsing, and music playing, it'll just be a matter of snapping in different peripherals.
I'm shopping for a laptop right now, and what I really want is something small. I don't need a whole lot of power, I just need something I can slip in a handbag or backpack pocket (maybe a Fujitsu Lifebook P-series). With Verizon wireless broadband it could sit in my backpack/briefcase and, via skype, serve as a cell phone. It'd also be my PDA.
There are a lot of different approaches to reaching that convergence, and it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
Yet, state of the art phones are really comparable with the home computers of 80s. But if those computers were sufficient for masses, then they would win the game with a better price of $5 or so :)
Its easier to donate them old machines, available aplenty, rather then selling some crappy phone. It requires a screen and a keyboard, when did these become portable without integration as in a laptop.
They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me. -Nathaniel Lee
Looking forward, this does make business sense.
1. General purpose computing is not processor intensive (especially when you combine it with ASP style internet apps). We could fit it into a phone, easily.
2. This could drive more powerful and efficient processors for smaller devices. $100 is not improbable in a short time.
3. Cell phone penetration is good in developing world too (India/China). Its good to have a device with other uses too.
4. MS might have Windows Live! in mind. Ultimately this might be available world-wide, along with free subscription of Windows Live.
Overall, here is an interesting strategy:
1. Home Entertainment+ = XBox 360
2. Value+ = , Pocket PC, Windows CE
3. Servers = Windows on x64, IA64
4. Desktops and Laptops - Windows Vista
The interesting this is, there is very little overlap between the target markets here. And they have got all the bases covered.
Life is just a conviction.
The Smartphone Wizard automatically detected there is a new version available of the Caribe-VZ-29A application currently installed. The system has automatically downloaded and installed this newer version. Please reboot your phone to apply the changes.
If Microsoft cannot get their tentacles embedded in order to extract a tax on every electronic device legally sold in Africa, that's a serious setback. When Vista bombs later this year and alternative platforms and free software continue to take off everywhere, and Google keeps bleeding them with more papercuts, MSFT stock is going to tank.
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
PC's aren't cheap enough since there's not enough volume of production. Embedded computers, like in cell phones, are cheap since there is enough volume. So we just turn them into general computing devices, i.e. pc's. That's MM Enterprises logic if you ask me.
Dont those in the third world need reliable power and healthcare before they worry about setting up a TV and cell phone to check their email?
Something tells me my Email inbox is going to Skyrocket when this baby is released.
There are thousands of rich Princes and Dignitaries in the Third world that need US bank accounts to transfer their 40 million into, I just hope I am one of the lucky ones to get their email!!
"If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried"
What in the world will the poor people do with all the cellphone and $100 computers. How about giving them medical equipment, building schools and homes first and then giving them computers!
Did somebody ever try to read a web page on a TV screen? Or type text? Or even read text?
This is dumb, unless Microsoft is hoping to sell something else, too...I got it! They must have some partnership with an optical company. First, screw up their eyes, and then sell glasses to them.
Genius!
One can carry around a $100 laptop computer. One cannot carry around a TV to attach to the cellphone.
A cell phone running Windows Mobile costs at least three times that, even with a two year contract. If these actually get produced, will we be able to reap the rewards here in the first world?
Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
Thanks, MS, for providing a nice refreshing dose of vaporware to make sure any competitor trying to do something innovative gets crushed.
As others have pointed out perhaps we should give them the infrastructure to feed themselves, medicine, education and the ability to have sex without killing themselves off before we give them laptops *or* cell phones.
Grrr. How can we justify missions to Mars when kids are still going to bed hungry?
we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
-- anais nin
Just what we need.. :
- Primary school kids in developing countries with cellphone bills to pay
- Pay a tax to MS instead of using that money to buy RAM/CPU etc.
- Take a great idea and through some FUD slow down adoption (governments are
primary takers on $100 laptop. This sort of FUD might sow enough
doubt to make those governments think twice)
When developing countries start to roll out cheap WiMax, VOIP will become the primary communications medium in developing countries. Cellular technology is on it's last legs.
AFAIAC this is just shameless on MS's part.
I can see the submitter is a graduate of a US college.
Most current smartphones are way more expensive than basic PCs and perform an order of magnitude worse. They become cheaper but the process is even faster for PCs. And what's more, smartphones lack the most expensive part -- usable display!
Here in Brazil today it's hard to find young people who don't have a cellphone. There are some problems like closed and no standard and shared SMS system (you can't send SMS in MSN/ICQ because of that), slow GPRS, very small market for applications.. but still there are a huge market for mobiles, cards (most people here use pre-paid system with cards that star from R$ 20 - kind of 8 U$, it's cheaper than having to pay every month, you have 2 months to use a card), download of tunes/music, etc. Current numbers talk about more than 80 millions of people with cellphones, from a total popullation of (aprox) 185 million. And microsoft is basically out of this market, nokia is the big player with symbian, and other like motorola and siemens follow. This is computing for the masses, a simpler, cleaner one sure, but you can have email, use WAP or opera mini to read slashdot. Now if they could get better prices for GPRS (it's R$5 for each MB), once more powerfull phones, like the ones running linux, arrive, people could tell goodbye for their big computers and phone lines.
http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,,85235,00.html
http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,,57363,00.html
No snapping required. Oh... And *handbag* what're you like some kind of a girl?
Deleted
Why are these items just for 'developing' nations? I see this as a potential item for anyone who can't afford an expensive phone. Of course there will still be the high-end models, but for the masses there will always be a need for inexpensive tech.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
..an opportunity to bring choise to a monopolised market!!
.. i have not run windows voluntarily since 3.11
.. it genuinely may have good intentions and also taht i have heard that the terms of thewinCE offer gates personally made was unprecedented in the history of MsFT so who knows?
that negroponte guy -- who does he think he is using his terrible monopoly powers in the third world to impose software freedom on people who had no choice?! the sheer gall of it.
/ ; seriously though
he owuldve bee na bit more diplomatic about widnows CE or OSx which he sought out first.
it wasn't like he had ocnsidered FOSS from the get go.
if you must know apart form this joke
i also think taht in this case with bill gates involved
thanks for reading guys, gals and corporate execs.
How on earth do you know that's offtopic? I can't even understand it! Can we have a new mod type, illegible perhaps?
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. - Douglas Adams
They hope to use this product to steal a market for Windows CE to dominate and destroy Nicholas Negroponte's $100 free open-source powerd laptop concept before it can infect developing nations with the idea of non-Microsoft sofware.
I have considered this idea many times since cellphones started sporting memory cards and java apps. With some of the newer phones, all that would be required is a cheap video card and a cable adaptor. The bluetooth keyboard is already available.
And make no mistake about it, it would be useful. With a keyboard and a TV, you could edit documents, send emails, browse the web, play games, etc.. Pretty much everything that the average PC user does with their windows box could more or less be done with a Nokia, bluetooth keyboard and a TV.
No everyone needs an overclocked athalon with a mighty video card to get high frame-rates out of the best new games. For most, this would be enough.
Microsoft is thinking very strategically here. And who cares that you couldn't produce one of these phones today for $100. Are they planning on releasing it today? The writing is on the wall, folks...
It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
There are real, practical uses of this technology for building these economies. Technology can bring more people together in terms of commerce.
I like the idea that the machines will be rolled out with Linux, and we'll see people all over the world doing their own development and support. Creating local jobs and software for their own needs.
That is probably a common misconception. Old/surplus PC's may be obtained virtually free in the West. But to use them in Africa, you'd have to refurbish them (used, or stuff that wasn't sold because there's some problem with it). Then transport across the globe: big, heavy boxes = expensive. Then operate: consuming lots of (unreliable) power, and dying like the flies (old + environmental conditions). Add these factors together, and it's not cheap at all. Maybe that's why a large percentage of refurbished PC's shipped to Africa, turn out to be useless and wind up in a landfill (possibly intentional)?
Wasn't that the whole point of a $100 laptop? Designed for the purpose, small (=cheap to transport), new (=not breaking down right away), and working even without reliable power.
Just like drug dealers, MS trying to peddle their drugs to the poor of the world and get them hooked.
I hope that they don't get even a small bit of the market share. The $100 laptop project is much better and I hope that it works well.
The poor nations will in the long run be far better off learning the use Free-Software.
I see a lot of people remarking that this is some sort of me-too, reactive stuff.
Well, I guess it is -- but you should get used to that. Microsoft's strength is that it is a great follower, not an innovator.
They let the innovator (e.g. Negroponte) risk stuff, then they follow on, crushing competition due to their size and resources. They've done this with DOS/Windows/Word/Excel/Access and so on. Every product was a follower.
They wait until they see someone else kicking ass with a product -- then they do their version, and slowly and gently, they push, push push their competitor out of the market. [Sort of the way the Han Chinese are moving into and dominating Xinjiang and Tibet - no massacres, just push, push push].
Every thirdworld guy wants a phone. Even before you have a reliable source of electricity, you need your cellphone, if only to find out about crop prices. Clearly the phone is THE growth platform of the future.
So if the get their stuff in the phone, they've got a few billion customers using windows -- and their company's future is secured.
Someone at Microsoft probably thought of this before, but it probably only got approval from Billy recently.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
have the pissed off customer to prove it.
I used a treo 600 for over a year. It was remarkably good as a converged device. However if I learned anything, I learned that having a good phone is so important it trumps everything else. It'd be fine if I spent all my time in the city, but I was freqently out of range.
I switched to an LG tri-mode phone with bluetooth, on the theory that I'd get at least an analog signal in places I used to have no coverage at all, and, guess what: I get perfectly good digital connectivity in places I had no bars before. The phone's memory is so small the web browser is useless, but using it as a bluetooth modem from a PDA works fine. The main problem is that only one device can use the BT modem at a time, and if I use it from windows the windows BT stack is so buggy it refuses to let go; I have to shut the BT radio off.
I'm not against convergence per se. It's just that converged devices as they now stand do not perform well enough in their comm roles, which is the linchpin for the whole concept. The best of the devices are mediocre PDAs, which is good enough for most of us.
For a converged device to work,it has to have two things: (1) NO phone trade-offs at all and (2) strong device connectivity to make up for UI tradeoffs. What makes a good phone and a what makesa good PDA or video viewer are all different things. While you may want to watch TV on your phone, you're also going to want to pipe the video to a TV (can anybody in the industry not be watching what iPods are doing these days?).
Once you have interdevice connectivity up to snuff, what you have is neither strictly a communication device nor strictly a converged device. It's a device that can work equally well in either role, as a network interface or a user interface.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
It's a sort of FUD that is part of the MS method of Extend, Embrase, Extinguish.
The objective is to derail Negroponte's attempt to put computers into the hands of children world wide (who, while otherwise equal to you and I in the grand scheme of things, happen to have the misfortune of being born into poverty).
Why? Because Microsoft desperately desires to maintain its foothold on the third world. MS executives believe that if an Open Source operating system were to be distributed in large quantity to populations whom would no doubt become tech leaders in their respective countries that Microsoft would likely be poorly positioned in the future. In fact, they are so afraid of being unable to compete, they insist on going well out of their way to disrupt aid to underprivileged kids.
With this vaporware propoganda, they seek to undermine credibility in the Negroponte-platform and create the illusion of a superior alternative in order to give pause to adoption by influential world leaders.
Of course, the more skeptical among you may imagine: "Psst. You don't want some weird devices running unsupported software which is far too complicated for your people. Bah, silly open source mumbo jumbo! We've got something planned that might be better when we think about doing it later. Even other well-financed megacorporations in the telecom industry think its a good idea to rely on Microsoft solutions over cellular networks. Plus, your local energy monopoly believes wind-up solutions are not sustainable. I tell you what, Honorable Mwgabe... why don't we give you a nice vacation to think it over? Perhaps in a more relaxed atmosphere, you'll decide to tell the UN and other companies not to 'waste their time' supporting that silly initiative trying to put a practical and durable laptop in the hands of children everywhere."
Let Negroponte get going; you're not ready! If you develop something kewler in a couple few years, then spend your own massive war chest to distribute your solution for free. That'll put you back into a competitive position without preventing Good People(tm) from trying to help kids around the globe.
In a parallel universe, the Microsoft executives would lead, follow, or get out of the way. But no, they engage in Carlinesque obstruction.
i'll take the $100 open linux powered laptop thank you very much.
hmm an underpowered limited computer that plugs into a TV...wouldn't this be called WebTV 3?
As the companion article at CNet rightfully notes, Bill Gates is mostly launching this out of spite, not out of any well thought out product strategy. He is upset that Negroponte chose Linux over Windows CE for the device because of what that entails: If the device is successful in those countries participating, it will mean more orders for the laptop, further development to make it even cheaper and have even more clever features (the wind up handle is brilliant for those countries where electricity is not guaranteed, the built in wireless networking is even better for making ad hoc networks where there is no internet), but above all it will give desktop Linux an insane boost and create, virtually overnight a third massive participant in the desktop OS sector after Windows and OSX (Linux has simply been too small up until now to be noticed). There will suddenly be a massive and huge market for Linux software and it could very well spell the death of Windows in developing countries.
All of this is obvious. The idea to make a computer out of a cellphone is certainly not a bad idea as you can get cell phone service in loads of developing countries where you can't even get electricity, and cell phones are very cheap. But there are numerous problems with Bill Gates' idea of using WindowsCE, i.e. Smartphone OS for this:
1. The dominant cellphone OS, by far, is Symbian. Symbian is less restricted than Windows, and the cellphone industry is highly suspicious of Microsoft's attempt to enter this industry, the result of which is that there are almost no phones with Windows on them and the Windows Smartphone OS has a poor reputation. Bill G is painfully aware of this, as well as the fact that this is in fact probably where the future of personal computing is headed.
2. The fact that users of this cellphone PC would need a keyboard, adapter and TV means that people would be restricted to only using their computers when they had those devices with them, as opposed to a laptop where they have everything with them. The Cellphone is definitely the future as far as PC's are concerned but the hurdles of data entry (good speech recognition or good virtual keyboards are needed) and large enough screens (virtual screens or eye jacks or glasses with lcds etc) have not yet been overcome. When they have been overcome you can kiss PC's goodbye and Bill G knows this, but at the moment having to lug around a keyboard and adapter is too much for a device that is supposed to be rugged.
Egads...!they've reinvented the Commodore 64.
sicut erat in principio
et nunc et semper
et in saecula saeculum.
Amen.
Hasan
I know everyone loves to hate on Microsoft's closed operating system, but the closed nature of cell phones and their networks is worse. What would the Internet be like if you could only use approved applications built into the computer on it? What if every email was $0.10?
This might be a subversive way for MS to open up cell phones into more general purpose devices with more third party applications.
If so, that would be interesting, and sad that they couldn't do that here.
To look at it the other way -- is there a Linux powered phone that you can VNC into and write applications for (including programably accessing the phone, bluetooth and cell-based network connection)?
That also would be interesting, although I'm sure it would be anathema to folks like Verison -- they want phones to be more like game consoles and less like general purpose computers. You can't even backup your paid-for ring tones? Even Apple treats you better.
-- I browse at +5 with stripped sigs
Am I the only one who thinks that you know who is driven by irrational longing for acception?
This is a reaction to a more well-thought out idea. Microsoft is responding with a throwback to the Timex Sinclair & Commodore 64 days where you plug the computer into your telivision and play with it. Do tell, if you are so impoverished that you cannot afford a $100 computer, are you going to take the time to dig up an extra TV and a network connection for this?
The computer isn't the thing that will empower these people. Information is. And if a computer isn't hooked up to a network, it's just a paperweight waiting to happen.
Even if it is in the shape of a cell phone.
But 3 cheers for the handful of African kids who tinker with this enough to learn something cool about computers, even if only for a little while and even if it is a business driven microsoft improvisation.
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
I'm afraid that many people living in the land of plenty (Mr. Gates included) do not fully understand what's going on in undeveloped parts of the world. There's rather strange general opinion that the only difference between developed and underdeveloped (or poor) societies lies in the fact that developed ones use high technology while others don't. There're also tons of studies published on that, only few of them getting close to explain what's causing that difference. In my personal experience it's a) organization and b) education. The truth is, laptops and cell phones (hi-tech in general) represent only side effects of a modern society. They do not either help develop, nor modernize, undeveloped one.
So that these nations stop developing.
>>"Nicholas Negroponte's $100 free open-source powerd laptop"
So is it free or $100?
Huge areas of the 2nd world use mobiles as the primary telecoms network.
If you haven't already got copper (and it hasn't been dug up and sold) - you install a mobile network. Have you any idea how many magnitudes cheaper it is to stick in a few BTS, microwave them up than actually start laying copper, in trenches, to each house.
Then there's the difficulty in getting your punters to pay - payg cards make that very easy.
My point is mobiles are there and there to stay. 100 dollar laptop is great, but most people are going to plug it into their mobile to send an email anyway.
If you assume that most of the 100 dollar laptop market already have access to a TV and want/have a phone as well (I'd assume TV and phone come before laptop in aspirational purchases) - then why pay for a CPU and screen again?
The only downside seems to be that you'll need to go back to your house to look at your spreadsheets.
Just like Soviet aid, M$ is giving away a digital AK-47.
Next you get M$ advisors and a treaty of "friendship" with M$.
Then a populist user coup, and key ministries get M$ software.
Outraged mobs hunt down the Linux using elements and the young get to denounce Unix.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
To start with a CPU has atleast 3 connectors.. keyboard, mouse and monitor cable. I do not see how ppl can have a monitor, keyboard, mouse lying around wherever they go, even in poor countries. I guess Microsoft will sell a dumb terminal which accomodates the cellphone. This dumb terminal will have some sort of video card, because the cellphone's graphics h/w for the small terminal may not work with the big screens.. but that might change. Courtesy service providers, these cell phones in US will be given for free. The dumb terminal might cost like 80$(the screen is the costly part and if its color lcd or something.. I do not know the price.). Finally cost in US is 80$, where as in the other countries it will be more like 180$(incl. of cell phone). Make the rich richer and poor poorer.. He hee..
You will never have experience until after you needed it.
you know billy and melinda were people of the year for time magazine for all their "generous contributions" (cough cough tax writeoffs) -
they have to get that money back somehow - lock them into a cell phone os - give it to them first but then make them upgrade later.
"innovation" at its best - good job billy - now if they only had a tv and or wall to project the computer screen.
Just like the problems with the laptop, and the problems with us sending machines to these countries to help them make more profit on the land I see 2 problems: -Where will they get spare parts from (I doubt that the average starving etheopian doest know enough about mobile phones to swap a couple of components) -Where do they get a wall socket from to recharge the thing?
Developing developing developing developing nations...
They got their ass kicked recently from mobile manufacturers. Apparently noone wants Microsoft setting standards (and eventually control hardware design like in PC world) in the mobile world.
Large mobile hardware corporations decided to jointly take linux route: powerful OS + full control of all aspects of their products.
Mobile phones, not PDA's or bulky laptops are most probable ones to become personal devices of the future. Connect them with display or keyboard and you will get a classical computer.
I already see Microsoft loosing their dominance in OS market, and they seem to know it already (trying to desperately push forward Windows Mobile, with good success so far only in handheld area). Symbian on the other side is in hands of Nokia so I'm unsure of it's long term acceptance.
Windows powerd alternative to Nicholas Negroponte's $100 free open-source powerd laptop."
Just M$ trying to steal the thunder from a project meant to sell things cheap AND genuinly care about the end user, something M$ just cant seem to do. They wont give a damn about this thing, and yet people will still for some reason buy it because it has the mighty and deep pocketed M$ marketing machine behind it...
While I am no fan of MS (or Gates), I like the fact that they are now thinking of how to make this happen (in typical MS style, wait until somebody has an idea and then try to steal or improve upon it). One thing that this does, is marry a computer inside to the network. If a village has several tvs and a cheap keyboards, this approach brings the network to the village. It is an idea worth exploring. In fact, for negropointe's PC, I wonder if there is a way to hook these together in a network (ir?) and then have them use a cell phone as a hub to the outside world?
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
- Compose Nigerian banking spam?
- Appeal to the UN for aid?
- Let your country be used for a terrorist training center?
- Sell your goat on eBay?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Hmm, 7 million laptops on a mesh network in an undeveloped region (i.e. having even less computer-related education of users than the US)...
Supposing someone found a new security hole in linux, that's a lot of unpatched systems. The only way for a virus-writer not to take complete advantage of 7 million machines for, say, a DDoS attack, is the fact that inter-network communication is "on standby". Just wait until the telecommunications infrastructure is updated.
Oh wait, there's that pesky handcrank. Quick, someone write a 'wake-on-crank' acpi driver...
The idea isn't to give you cheap tech. The idea is the secure a market share.
Over here, the market is shared and set. People keep using MS products for the simple reason that they know how they work. That's pretty much the only reason (besides games not being available on other platforms) that keep people from using alternatives.
In developing countries, where people haven't even seen a computer yet, they don't care if they start with Windows, Linux or Thingamajigix. They gotta learn either system from scratch.
And that's where the problem lies for MS. Their only 2 advantages ("I already know this and so I don't switch" and "My games only run on Windows") don't apply. They don't know how it works, and they don't care about games.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Mobile phones, not PDA's or bulky laptops are most probable ones to become personal devices of the future. Connect them with display or keyboard and you will get a classical computer.
I've been there. Phones that are even as powerful as high-end handhelds are going to remain a geek toy until there's some breakthrough in battery technology. That's the real sticking point.
But, also... "Connect them with display or keyboard and you will get a classical computer?" The display and keyboard aren't going to be any smaller than a "bulky" laptop, because today's laptops are pretty much the size they are because they can't be any smaller and have full-sized displays and keyboards. Ultrasmall laptops simply haven't caught on, and using handhelds (whether PDAs or phones) as laptop-replacements have all the same problems.
Lousy battery life when you use it as a computer, lousy interface unless you juggle a keyboard and screen that make it as big as a laptop, and they cost almost as much as laptops once you account for the subsidies. No thanks.
Lets forget for a minute that MS is the bad guy in this movie and think on this:
1- In poor countries, a lot of people have cellphones. In Argentina, even the dogs has one (just kidding!, but people w/o landlines has cellphones, using pre-paid cards you can use it for less than u$4/month). So there is no need to buy anything (OK, a new cellphone, but is mostly subsidized by the telco).
2- Cellphone CPUs are powerful than old "HOME computers", they even run JAVA.
3- Due to power and TV requirement, this won't be useful for lost villages in Africa, but there is poverty (and lot of it) in industrialized areas surrounding big cities in latin america, where a computer cost 4 times the average monthly family income, due to exchange and tax factors (including customs, agriculture countries tend to heavenly tax industrialized goods to "protect" their non-existent local manufacture industries), and they DO have TV and cellphone (but their income is about u$300/month).
DNA in your Linux: DNALinux
Maybe kiosk setups, file storage and personalization is stored in the phone. This way a inexpensive computer setups can be used by several people.
Walk up to a kiosk insert phone, phone gets screened for viruses, you check your stuff do what you need to do.
Each phone gets a certain time allotment.
Kiosks designed to be cheap and give privacy.
This way a old recycled PC and a phone cradle makes up 90% of the kiosk.
The only thing the phone would need is the equivalent of a USB thumb drive.
How about just giving them USB thumb Drives? Oh wait, I'm sorry, that wouldn't sell much software, or make good headlines?
Get a free ipod.
... only if it comes with an inbuilt censorship regime.
Negroponte said he had "Fruitless Talks" however people close to the deal said that Microsoft offered Negroponte a open source version on Windows CE... FTA:
... or something like that ...
... this is right up his alley) and since they won't let him play - he's gonna play with his own toys. This might get interesting. Negroponte has what, $700M commitment from 7 countries? Bill could whip that out in a second.
According to several people familiar with the discussions, Microsoft had encouraged Mr. Negroponte to consider using the Windows CE version of its software, and Microsoft had been prepared to make an open-source version of the program available.
Apple offered a free, although not open source version of their OS:
Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, had also offered a free version of his company's OS X operating system, but Mr. Negroponte rejected that idea because the software was largely not open-source, meaning users could not get free access to software and its source code, which they could then modify.
Negroponte rejected Microsoft saying "I have 100 million developers I can rely on"
So from the sounds of it, Negroponte made contact with Microsoft, got a few free lunches and then said "f*ck you." Now Microsoft sees something viable (remember, Bill does a lot of charity work aimed at helping out kids in third world countries
This just shows how far BillyG is gone off base as far as computing is concerned. He no longer thinks that having a general purpose computer is good for that part of the world.
Think how much your life as changed because of the the general purpose computer. Now think how much your life has changed because of the cell phone. Compare the two. Compare the two again, carefully.
With general purpose computers, people can produce stuff, with cell phones, they consume stuff. Its as simple as that. Which is why the Negroponte effort is so important. Because it will enable people to write programs (yes, even programs for cellphone), or a letter, or setup a database, or do spreadsheets, or help start and run their fledgling businesses. Keep credit records, get decent weather reports, create and consume rich media. The possibilities are endless with a general purpose computer.
We've become used to outrage with all that's happening in the world today -- no matter which side of the spectrum you are in, but BillyG's proposal brings to the fore a new level of outrage in me that I have not felt in a long time.
Newsfollow.com
Recently there was a posting here of an article from Wired about what a wonderful philanthropist Bill Gates is. This article shows the true face of the man, and it is quite ugly. Instead of getting behind, or at least out of the way, of someone else's altruistic efforts, he tries to create FUD and undermine the effort. Why? Because they aren't playing HIS way with HIS toys.
It takes an incredible amount of effort and hard work to overcome the huge obstacles required to get a project like Negroponte's off the ground. If Gates had one ounce of decency in him, once the choice had been made, he should have got out of the way (if he couldn't find it in him to help out). Bill Gates sticking his foot out to trip Negroponte up is the despicable act of a despicable man.
Call this flame bait if you like, but this has nothing to do with whether or not someone is a FOSS fanboy or sees Microsoft as the evil empire. There are far more serious issues at play here. And it's not only about Bill Gates, who merely represents a trend. Apparently greed has become the supreme value in the U.S., and the greedy men who run it, no matter how much damage they cause, are somehow seen as admirable.
I only hope this cellphones does not have intel processors...If they do, we could end singing:
my ears
my ears
my ears is on fire
whys the screen gone blue ?...press ctrl,alt what......this stupid things crashed again, now how am I supposed to call MS tech support ..!?
In the same article bill gates said he would volunteering
his butt to plug-in and power the said external TV.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
So to be *formerly* developing nations.
by "to the masses" Bill Gates (and other technology leaders) means India. I just read the article Inside India by Aaron Ricadela of (Information Week)which talks about using TV and cell phones to bring email and "web serfing" to 1 billion, most of who do not have a computer.
This is the URL to the article, or so I hope. it has some stupid session ID in it so I apologize if thats not working.
This idea of plugging a phone into a TV and somehow getting a computing experience out of it is a joke. The $100 computer from MIT is a TEXT based computing device, even if it is graphical. Nobody at Microsoft would be able to use the crap they are suggesting for anything productive, therefore it will never sell. They could only hope to unload boatloads of the shit on developing nations with the hopes of getting some kind of cut of the foreign aid budget: ie. the US gave "computers" to developing nations, but really they bought shiny plastic junk with TAX DOLLARS at inflated prices from Microsoft and dumped them on poor people.
--- Nothing clever here: move along now...
I'm showing my age, but this sounds like an updated Timex/Sinclair computer! Maybe a Commodore Vic-20 or Commodore 64? :-) Ahh, the joys of computing by hooking it up to your TV so you could play a game, or try to write programs on the 40 character wide screen!
This all assumes that there are readily available televisions, along with cell networks, power supplies, and so on. Which aren't even universally available here in the US. I live in an area where cell service is not available - and won't be anytime soon. I used to live in an area where I knew a lot of people who didn't have a phone, or electricity. Not by choice, but because there were no lines. Yes, right here in the US, a 'developed' country.
I'm all for the idea of being able to provide computers to anyone who wants/needs one, but at the same time, it might be nice to see what infrastructure should be there - and cheaply - before this. "Great, I got this cool phone I can't recharge, can't call anywhere, and exactly how the am I supposed to hook it up to my non-existent TV? "
...what a P990 could do. In Q2 2004, I spent 10 days travelling the USA and was able to run my business from the P900 thanks to O2's roaming. a) Send and receive e-mail (with attachments), b) Surf the web using Opera c) Update company intranet d) Take (albiet crappy) photos e) Listen to music f) Organise meetings (using excellent calendar) g) Make notes and ideas i) When I really needed laptop power, used Bluetooth to take my 12" PowerBook online, but I hardly used it and only bought it along to make a presentation. j) Make phone calls!
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
Don't take risks with the health of children, not while the cell phone radiation debate is still hot! A $100 laptop is a much safer option, add WiMax for VOIP and a optional plug-in handset (radiation free) and you everything Gates offers, without the risks. The only catch is, Bill will never profit from it, however humanity will. Cellphones are also like drugs, they suck the $ out of the poor who don't know how to manage their accounts and learn the hard way what the real costs can be. How would you like to get into a ten year debt in the space of a few weeks of ignorant phone calls? Radiation free, fixed cost computing and communications is that only rational and selfless proposal that I can see. Anything else looks like cynical stealth marketing.
Many of the worlds problems can be solved when those affected posess the following 3 properties...
Firstly the physical hardware required to build their required system.
Secondly the fortitude to fight through the problems and build a solution.
Lastly, and most importantly, information on how and why to utilise the first 2 requirements to best effect.
A pile of clay and a dozen strong people is all well and good but those people, given information, can build a pipeline to ship fresh water and solve many realted health problems.
Without information you would not know this. People all around the world have come up with good ideas but without dispersal of information such ideas will slowly fade away.
How were the Gardens of Babylon watered? This question still arises... To know the answer to that question may help many people water their gardens now.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
The lesson from that is not to use a gaming system like Windows when you have work to get done.
Somebody should have though of using a PDA as a cell phone/computer before.
Life has many choices. Eternity has two. What's yours?
So, this will be the world's first phone with integrated blue screen functionality and Ctrl, Alt, and Del buttons?
so how much additional gear do you need to connect
a commodity NAT cable-modem router to your one modem?
Can't be much.
The comments regarding televisions above are right on. Solutions should actually be solutions.
But for goodness' sake, who thinks carrying around their relatively fragile PC is a good idea? I've dropped mine a few times without complete breakage over the seven years I've owned one (er, three) but I can't imagine a device of that form factor being relied upon for computing. Storage would absolutely need to be separate from the phone, regardless of whether it has removable flash; imagine carrying the only copy of all of your important files on a USB flash drive in your pants pocket. Theft or damage would be so likely, if not inevitable.
I can see wanting this to be a good idea... just don't see it actually being one.
You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right.
"Here. Our new smart phone. Whaddya mean "Food & Clothes"? We'll see if we can add that in the next version..."
Because children in third-world countries can afford to pony up $30/month for a cell phone plan.
(And yes, I'm aware that in many 3rd world countries, cell phones are more plentiful than land lines, but that's only because there are very few land lines.)
Speaking as the CTO of a former Internet Appliance company, most televisions worldwide SUCK as a usable computer monitor.
It's part of why the IA market didn't really take off (To be sure, there were more, but it's the straw that broke
the camel's back...).
Stated maximum resolution for NTSC sets: 648x486
Peak actual NTSC resolution : 540x480
Typical NTSC resolution : 352x240
The last line is the average usable broadcast resolution- and as such, many of the sets out there aren't capable more than that cleanly- it'd been a waste of profit margins to build precisely to spec when it'd not be noticed. Yes, you could use your TV as a monitor, and that was the primary option for people with their C64, TI, TimexSinclair, Color Computer, etc. But they didn't attempt to do much more 512x480, and typically did the lower resolution by default and many owners went looking for "the right television" for their computer if they didn't get a monitor. What Bill's suggesting is evil to say the least- and not because of it being a Windows based solution or a cell-phone (which would be a waste in and of itself...).
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
There is a lot of evidence of massive cell phone use in developing nations, accomplishing much of what this laptop program is trying to accomplish. There is no evidence currently to support the laptop program.
s echangeslifeinafrica/ - that they use to find sellers or buyers of their crops.
8 -28-cell-banks-africa_x.htm/
e _phone_as.html/ and the "pocket answer to the digital divide" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4446966.stm/
Over 10 million people in Nigeria have cell phones: http://fellows.rdvp.org/davidlehr/blog/cellphoneu
Cell phones are providing a way to do low-cost banking in South Africa: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/2005-0
They've been called a "lifter from poverty" - http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2005/11/26/mobil
The only thing stupid that MS is doing here is assuming that you need a keyboard and a tv. You don't. You just need a very capable phone.
Here's a thought.
Almost certainly the phones will have GPS built-in. And of course, spooks could instruct the phone company to override a GPS shutoff by the user of the phone.
So, using this phone as an internet connection tells anyone who cares to know where the user is within a couple of meters. Fab.
Somehow, I think that this concept will be happily supported by governments and employers everywhere in the third world. Damned hard to organize a union or write a political diatribe against the powers that be if the internet connection is pinned down like a bug on a map.
1) Yes, cellphones require power. However they have massive coverage and massive use in developing countries, with skyrocketing rates of use. So that doesn't seem to be an issue.
2) The microsoft idea would be better without the tv and keyboard, true. They offer nothing to the target market - which is why the laptop idea sucks too.
3) People have been known to track herds of animals in africa with cheap cellphones that ring home every hour - the coverage is expanding like wildfire (see my earlier posts for references). The laptops would realistically be using this as their connection to the internet anyway - there are no phone/dsl/cable lines to speak of. Why hook a mesh of laptops up to a cell system, rather than having each person have a cell phone with a direct connection to that system?
4) What? I'm glad you're an apple fan, but that has nothing to do with this discussion. The best solution is the one that most efficiently deals with the required tasks to help the poor in developing nations, particularly the rural poor. What do they need? How about weather forecasts? How about being able to check on market prices? How about being able to order some farm equipment without taking a 6 hour bus ride? How about sending some money home to your family when you're working far away? All can be met with a cell phone. If anything a smart phone would have too many unneeded features. A laptop running linux would be pointless. I don't think the point is to create a generation of linux sys admins here. It's to raise the income of many families by a modest amount, say 30%.
$100 worth of goats. It's worked before, check it out: http://www.farmafrica.org.uk/news.cfm?id=56/. It invests the recipient with a long term commitment to breeding them, short term relief from hunger thru milk, and an opportunity to advance in the local economy. Very cheap investment. Yet we continue to want to finance big infrastructure projects and the like for some reason. For $100 the above charity could provide 2.38 goats (ok that wouldn't work), 2 donkeys, or 1 camel. Owning an animal like that would make a huge difference in someone's wealth there.
I'd pick livestock over land for most developing countries. You can usually take your animals with you - you never know if your land is going to be taken from you.
"To keep costs down and make it more durable, the laptop will eschew a hard drive in favor of 1GB of flash memory, on which the operating system, other software and all local data must be stored.
"The laptop is also likely to sport a low-power 500-MHz processor, 128MB of DRAM, a wireless broadband chip, a two-mode display that will alternate between a color mode suitable for watching DVDs and a black-and-white reflective one that will boost resolution three times and be viewable under sunlight. Finally, the laptop will be powered by a battery and a wind-up electrical generator -- an effort to overcome the primitive infrastructure of the developing nations in which the laptops are expected to be used."
Seriously, I'd like to get one for $200US or so and let them donate the excess to the cause.
MjM
XKCD:Xeric Knowledge Comically Dispen
"Do tell, if you are so impoverished that you cannot afford a $100 computer, are you going to take the time to dig up an extra TV and a network connection for this?"
Because cell phones aren't already connected to a data network, right?
Vote for Pedro
that's all well and good but it has nothing to do with the requirements and target audience of the $100 laptop project. I think the key word would be 'school' and/or 'education'. The $100 laptops are supposed to be targeted at school kids.
...
So the guys using cell phones for buying/selling crops are not the target.
The people using cell phones for online banking are not the target.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
It's a great idea! Maybe I try to hack my phone (Nokia 6600) to do something like that... does anybody know how to do that ?
Walter