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First Photos of MIT $100 Laptop
An anonymous reader noted that MITs $100 laptop was unveiled at the Seven Countries Task Force Meeting. It runs a special version of the Fedora linux and it comes with native wireless lan support. You can see the
photo album, and you can pledge to buy one at triple price... in order to donate 2 of them to children.
And if they do intend to engage in price discrimination, I hope they have found a way to prevent arbitrage, or else people may make businesses out of buying them at $100 and selling them at ~$200 in the countries where the negative price discrimination policy is in effect.
Uttering logically derived and empirically supported truths to the disciples of the orthodox establishment.
It's hard to be certain because you can't zoom in, but this may be the coolest example of the /. effect ever.
And we all want one for $100, and we'd all gladly pay up to $400 for one. I've got a PowerBook, and I'd still love one. I wouldn't have to worry about it, but it would be really handy.
This may indicate a market for such a device. Not a PDA, not a full-on "outfitted for war" laptop, not a (god damned useless) e-reader, not a handheld gaming rig, but the space between.
This is the space for essentialy a portable, truly open device that will let us surf the web, and run shells, and edit text files or to-do lists, but that won't break us financially if it's snatched from us on the subway.
MIT is showing us the market, and they're refusing to compete! Why have none of us embraced this yet?
My formula would be a Gumstix and an eInk display, maybe? Anyone have any better ideas?
Luck favors the prepared, darling.
Belinda and Gates are attacking a different set of problems and they're doing it everywhere. I think their viewpoint is that this project's priorities are out of whack. Education is great, provided the person will live to use it.
Letter from Bill and Melinda GatesWe believe health is the cornerstone of human development. When health takes hold, life improves by all measures. Conversely, poor health aggravates poverty, poverty deepens disease, and nations trapped in this spiral will not escape without the world's help. In Africa, the cost of malaria in terms of treatment and lost productivity is estimated to be $12 billion a year. The continent's gross domestic product could be $100 billion higher today if malaria had been eliminated in the 1960s. And if HIV infection rates continue at their present levels, the world will likely see 45 million new infections by 2010 and lose nearly 70 million people by 2020. That's 70 million of the most productive members of society - health workers, educators, and parents.
Therefore, the foundation's Global Health program works to ensure that lifesaving advances in health are created and shared with those who need them most. Our primary focus areas are HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, child survival and childhood immunization, and maternal and reproductive health.
To begin, we invest heavily in research to help discover new and better products, particularly vaccines. The foundation also supports work to develop products that can be manufactured and distributed. Then, once a product is developed, we work to make sure that there are systems in place to adopt and sustain these new drugs as they become available. The foundation is a major supporter of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). This alliance has provided basic immunizations to over 8 million children who would not otherwise have been immunized. As a result, GAVI has already saved an estimated 500,000 children's lives.
---The most pessimistic person could view this project akin to what Apple did when working with schools to get Apple software & hardware in cheap: become the defacto standard via goodwill. Get in early so that when they leave school they come back. Besides, that same person's pessimistic view will believe that they'll be stolen from schools as they'll be the most valuable thing in the school. (due to the fantastic engineering fortitude which is obvious to all).
Well, a lot of problems can be traced back to lack of education. The solution to AIDS is obvious. Abstinence is guaranteed to be effective. Condoms help a lot. There is no magic drug that will make people practice either of these. Focusing on AIDS drugs is like working on a better way to put out a fire -- much better to not have a fire in the first place. Simply stated, AIDS is spread by behavior. Education can help to change behavior.
Let's look at other problems. Many countries in Africa are politically unstable. Certain tribes/countries/ethnic groups want to kill the others. They are raised to think of the "other group" (whoever that may be) as the enemy/evil/not-to-be-trusted. It has been proven that the Internet can break down borders. On a forum (including ones like this), you can have people from dozens of countries putting in their opinion. It helps people to understand their near and distant neighbors.
Finally, some countries have a culture of corruption. When aid gets sent from foreign countries, there is sometimes lots of "palm greasing" just to get the supplies to those who need them the most. And even if the supplies get there, sometimes a few guys with guns take it all away. This is "just the way things are." So, what happens if the children are educated to realize that things do not have to be that way? It is possible that in a decade or two, opinions could start to change.
This is not just about reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic. This is about changing the way that people see the world.
I do admit that this OLPC is not LIKELY to do all of that. But if it changes the life of even a few children, maybe those children will grow up to be the next president/prime minishter/grand poobah of their countries.
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."