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Intel Unveils PC for Developing Nations

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the foot-in-the-third-world dept.

Poppler writes "Intel has announced it will produce a PC aimed at developing nations, the 'Community PC.' Instead of giving out minimal PCs to as many individuals as possible, Intel wants to sell these machines to 'kiosk owners' who will rent out use to their village. Price TBA. How does this stack up against the $100 laptop, in terms of helping the developing world?"

7 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Just what the world needs by liliafan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cool lets get some of these sent to Nigeria so we can get some more 419 scams going on, I really could use a share in $10 million just for helping to move the money. This really works out as a winning situation for everyone, cheap computers for developing nations, Intel makes money, and I get some of the money left by a rich former head of state, hopefully I will get more invitations to be involved.

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  2. Missing the point again by MadFarmAnimalz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Based in Cairo, Egypt here. We have long slagged the USD 100 laptop project, since for that price you can get a more functional second hand pc. What the market here needs is more efficient hardware trickle down mechanics, not new architectures.

    Now, if they're building a kiosk, then the lest they can do is make the machine fnction in multiseat mode. This is possible both using Linux and windows.

    But then again, that would translate to lower Intel sales, so I guess this is just another case of developing markets being receptacles for unworkable ideas developed by some guy in a suit in NY or CA whose idea of field visits involve brave runs down to the mall.

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  3. Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm a medical student and a technophile. I studied part of my third year clinicals in a third world nation with Doctors without Borders. Quite frankly, people who keep pushing for computers to be put into 3rd world nations don't seem to actually visit the poorest (and hence the most populous parts) of those places. The fact is that even a $100 put towards a computer can be better put towards generic versions of prescription drugs. Clean water, food, medical care and education are more important than any internet connection, laptop, or cellular phone. Unfortunately, Slashdot folks don't get it. A computer is nothing more than a tool that only matters when an educated and healthy population can utilize them.

    1. Re:Why? by jacoplane · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nicholas Negroponte on why he is developing the $100 laptop: "... if you take any world problem, any issue on the planet -- the big ones, peace, the environment, poverty -- the solution to that problem certainly includes education, could even be just education, and, if you have a solution that doesn't include education it's not a solution at all."

      So on education he would agree with you, however, access to text-books and information is of course the number one requirement for education. Giving people water, food, medical care etc is of course also extremely important. However, I'm reminded of the proverb by Maimonides: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

  4. Help the developing world by Gothmolly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Lets see, high on a rational priority list would be (just off the top of my head here):

    1) Convince the Muslim clerics in Nigeria that the polio vaccine is not a Western conspiracy to kill off Muslims.
    1a) Fix polio.
    2) Stop the hysteria over genetically modified food, so that people can grow 'golden rice', rice modified to produce beta carotene, so that people who live only on rice, at least get some nutrition from it.
    3) Provide real birth control options for developing nations.
    4) Stop pouring money into China.
    5) Get the French out of the Sudan, so that the UN can actually fix the problems there. ...
    1001) Get them all laptops, so that the power of the Internet can Change Their Lives.

    Seriously folks, stop the laptops-for-everyone circlejerk, and fix the real problems.

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    1. Re:Help the developing world by Vellmont · · Score: 5, Insightful


      Lets see, high on a rational priority list would be (just off the top of my head here):

      Contrary to popular belief, "the developing world" isn't a single place, but a vastly different collection of places and people at differing levels of development.

      Help is also not a zero sum game. It's not as if Intel not doing this kind of development opens up greater possibilities for priorities 1-5 in your numbering scheme.

      Is this something that can help some people in developing countries? I really don't know. But attacking the idea on the premise that there's other people with other problems is really missunderstanding the entire situation.

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  5. How important is the CPU? by jacoplane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Intel is of course not happy with the $100 laptop since that runs on the AMD Geode processor. Intel is of course focusing on the "fully featured" "community sharing" idea because they want to stop the idea that having a limited CPU is sufficient for most tasks. I think that is the elephant in the room here: For most common tasks, like web browsing, document editing, and e-mail, a top of the line processor is simply not really required. Ars Technica has said it well.