$100 Laptop Takes Flight in Thailand

EmperorKagato writes "Nicholas Negroponte's project for every child to have a laptop will come true for over 500 students in Thailand. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expects each child to receive a laptop instead of books as the books will be provided electronically. The laptop, mentioned previously on Slashdot, will now be brought to children in Thailand in October and November, with hopes for future shipments to Nigeria, Brazil and Argentina in 2007." This story selected and edited by LinuxWorld editor for the day Saied Pinto.

Comments

Only 500

[NekoXP]

There are only 500 children in Thailand?

If not "a laptop for every child" is a bit short :D

Re:Only 500

[chadbryant]

There are only 500 children in Thailand?

Well, they *did* just catch JonBenet Ramsey's killer there...

Re:Only 500

[rgravina]

This is a tired old argument. The idea ia that these children can have clean water, food, AND an education. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. This laptop not only provides them with electronic books, but also access to computer hardware, software and potentially the Internet. Just using computing as an example, using this laptop some of these kids might learn how to program, create great software and may eventually land themselves a place in a great university or a great job. I'd guess that the poor want direction in life and an opportunity to educate themselves, do interesting work and improve their lot in life as much (if not more) than the not-so-poor do. It's not *just* about food and water, even though of course these basic necessitiies need to be met. It's important to note that this laptop is aimed at countries, like Thailand, that have an infrastructure in place but are still relatively poor when compared to the US, most of Europe, Japan etc. There are many countries like this throuought Asia, Africa and South America that could really benefit form these laptops.

where can I order mine?

[ems2004]

Where can I order mine?

Re:where can I order mine?

[joe 155]

according to this site; http://www.laptop.org/index.en_US.html you won't be able to buy one, although I had previously heard that you could buy them for $300 as a way of donating 2 to children in the 2nd/3rd world

Re:where can I order mine?

[Kadin2048]

Give it six months after the first really big deployment (not this one; this is just 500 units, basically prototypes) and they'll be all over eBay.

Subsidizing the hell out of something and send it to the Third World is a good way to guarantee that it'll end up being sold right back to the First World, if there's any kind of demand.

Re:where can I order mine?

[4solarisinfo]

Your only real shot at getting one (legally) is in the form of a petition suggesting geeks would be willing to help fund 3 computers, if they got one (paying $300 for a $100PC and a warm fuzzy feeling). We discussed it here: http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=19204 0&cid=15771034

Re:where can I order mine?

[88NoSoup4U88]

Yes, and I seriously wonder why, everytime (after the announcement of the 300$-project) this story has come up after that, the editor hasn't bothered to keep including the link to that.

When this project is brought up (and it had its share of /. frontpage-posts), I always see a lot of posts of "I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of them just for tinkering", and 300$ gives you AND good karma, and a very funny lil' computer.
By keeping to mention the 300-dollar deal, I think it's easy for the editors to keep people aware of this possibility, and do their little contribution to which is, imo, a very good start in helping the third world countries partially keep up with the rest of the world.

Re:where can I order mine?

[lmfr]

http://www.pledgebank.com/100laptop, and you're right, that movement was external to the project.

Re:where can I order mine?

[Constantine Evans]

The deal has not, as far as I am aware, been discussed as a possibility officially. It is only a proposal made by unrelated people, and due to the wording of the pledge (signatories pledge to only purchase the laptop for $300, and only if over 100000 people sign by October), it is inconceivable that it will be successful except as an indication that there is interest in buying the laptops at an increased price.

Also, from the prices I have seen, $300 barely pays for two computers. It certainly won't pay for three - the laptops cost significantly more than $100 to build.

It would be a far better to discuss the possibility of buying the laptops at a greatly increased price (probably more around $500 or $600) directly with the project. If a show of support is necessary, then a petition on much more general terms would be far more useful (something like "I would be interested in buying one at a greatly increased price.").

Re:where can I order mine?

[RealGrouchy]

Case 1: Most kids (and perhaps their families) who receive the laptops will be extremely appreciative of them, and will cherish them with gratitude. Some may hawk them or break them, but overall the trial was a success.

Case 2: The trial run of ~500 fails miserably, and Negroponte says "boy am I glad the initial run was only 500 instead of >1 miilon!)

There are two main things to fixing poverty in the undeveloped world: proper inter- and intra-national distribution of food, and educating the masses (although the US will only allow education if it's done in the right way).

Obviously the distribution plan isn't airtight. Some laptops will be broken, stolen, sold, or misused, and some kids may fall through the cracks because of it. But that doesn't mean we should cancel the project and rob millions of children of this opportunity--then nobody will fall through the cracks, they'll just all be in a big ugly hole.

- RG>

Re:where can I order mine?

[Daengbo]

There are two main things to fixing poverty in the undeveloped world:

Really, though, Thailand is not that poor. Prime Minister Thaksin is himself worth something like US$600m, being a telcom baron and the richest man in the country. The rest of the country is fairly well developed when seen in comparison with other countries in the area. Try visiting Cambodia or Laos and then comparing the experience to Thailand.

When I originally read about this deployment of laptops last week, I wondered why Thailand was even on the list of countries which would receive donated laptops. The Thai Open Source team with the gov't NECTEC program just released a new version (7.0) of the School Internet Server which puts just about every school online and makes it easy for them to share Internet in a computer lab (computers likely provided by MS during their push to reduce piracy).

Thailand is NOT rich, and there are pockets of severe poverty (just as there are in most countries), but Thailand is not an underdeveloped country. It is generally regarded as developing.

It's a trial run.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

There are only 500 children in Thailand?

It's a trial run - from tfa:

More than 500 children in Thailand are expected to receive the machines in October and November for quality testing and debugging.

Re:It's a trial run.

[soft_guy]

There are only 500 children in Thailand?

It's a trial run - from tfa:

Thanks for clearing that up. We all seriously thought that there might be only 500 children in Thailand. The GPP did not pretend to misunderstand this point purely for comic effect.

Anxious to see them in action

[OakDragon]

I am anxious to see these laptops in action. I have heard a lot of criticism that rather than laptops, the poor children of the world need clean water and nutritious food first. This is, of course, true. But such criticism supposes that all the poor are living in mud and filth. Not true - some have their basic needs somewhat met, and perhaps education is next on the list of needs.

Re:Anxious to see them in action

[88NoSoup4U88]

...and perhaps education is next on the list of needs. Very much agree with your post; I might even argue that education also helps in accomplishing the other necesities you pointed out (teaching them to fish, so to speak).

Re:Anxious to see them in action

[vga_init]

Right, but this is the way I see it: A lot of people blindly convert commidities into cash. If you consider the resources and labor that go into the production of electronics, you'll notice something--it's different! Electronics are made from plastics and metals in factories, by factory workers. Could these facilities produce food? Maybe...probably very poorly. Could these workers convert to managing a different kind of production? Sure, but they'd be less efficient!

Furthermore, the facilities and workers for producing such laptops are in place, and they themselves cannot benefit 3rd world children in terms of food and water and health care. But can they contribute? Yes, they can, and that $100 going in exchange for the production of those laptops is not equivalent to $100 dollars worth of food! If things are balanced right, the value of the machines will be right and will not outweigh money spent on other items such as food.

Food and water are essential, but it's unfair to say that the laptops would not be beneficial just as well. More pressing needs may exist, but every little thing helpful counts.

Re:Anxious to see them in action

[Locutus]

That's what I was wondering about when India made that statement about how they'd be better off spending money on schools and teachers. You got to wonder how some of those kid who are getting a decent education in India would react if they were told their schools can't purchase computers because a village with 10 kids needs a school and a teacher. THAT is effectively what they said when they dissed OLPC.

It really shouldn't be and all-or-nothing proposal and you might think that OLPC should start marketing toward some of the wealther businesses in India instead of the government. I guess the 1 million quantity could seem too large but for India?

And it would seem like wealth would be relative to certain hubs and decrease as one moved further away from say large cities. In this case, it would be a case of improving the education in the appropriate 'wealth ring' such that with education comes wealth and therefore, wealth eventually moves up a notch if OLPC can help in a particular 'wealth ring'. I probably didn't say that very clearly but the idea is that if OLPC can help improve the wealth just outside a hub/city, it'll also improve the wealth outside of that area. IMO

LoB

Re:Anxious to see them in action

[DieNadel]

This is completely true. I've taught at a poor comunity in South America whose members were able to provide for their basic needs, like water (pit) and food (familiar agriculture and livestock), but were clearly lacking in education.

The problem lies basically at bringing the information to them, and a laptop like this would create a path for the information to flow (it could even be preloaded with classes' material) and teaching means as well (it could have educational and interactive software).

I think that basic needs MUST be addressed first, but if you want these people to progress in the society, the only way to achieve this is through education.

Re:Anxious to see them in action

[ThosLives]

The problem isn't so much 'bringing the information to them' but 'bringing the information to them in a way that doesn't take too much time away from meeting their basic needs'. This is why improving the base quality of living is so important.

Here's a for instance. Let's say that a child in some part of the world has 16 waking hours a day, and it takes 12 of those to get food, clean water, etc. This means that there are 4 hours left for education. I am not convinced that a person can learn more in 4 hours from a computer than they can learn in 4 hours from more tranditional means. However, if you give them some kind of automated washing machine, or refrigeration so they can store food, so they only need to spend 8 hours getting food and clean clothes, you have doubled the amount of time available for education - and I'm quite convinced that you can learn more in 8 hours than you can in 4 hours (all else being equal, of course).

Now, having a computer might make it possible to learn more per unit time, because, for instance, if there is only a single book people have to share, so some time is wasted. Electronic copies could mean more people can look at the same material in a given period of time, but I'm still not convinced that it will help speed up the learning process. But I don't think that has anything to do with the rate of learning, but just with the availability issue, as you mentioned. The problem I think isn't that "villiages" don't have enough books - it's that they don't have *any* books. Here's a for-instance: instead of spending time to ship the laptops into the area, why not spend the time to ship in books? Unless the licenses (ugh, I hate that word) for the educational material are very inexpensive, and can easily be brought to the "villiages", I think books are just as viable an alternative. Books tend to last longer, too, and don't suffer from "what format is that in" syndrome either.

As a final note, is anyone aware of studies that show the relative rate of learning using traditional means versus with electronic presentation?

Ebooks for the poor

[amightywind]

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expects each child to receive a laptop instead of books as the books will be provided electronically.

Reading DRM'd books on an 8 inch screen. Sweet! And all you have to do is turn the crank madly to see anything. These poor kids are gonna end up with right arms like Hell Boy.

Re:Ebooks for the poor

[BigNumber]

Must...Not...Make...Masturbation...Joke...

Re:Ebooks for the poor

[XxtraLarGe]

These poor kids are gonna end up with right arms like Hell Boy.

At least they could put a crank on each side so the kids can look like Popeye!

Re:Ebooks for the poor

[mrchaotica]

Reading DRM'd books on an 8 inch screen.

The books are NOT DRM'd. The entire system is strictly freely-licensed.

And all you have to do is turn the crank madly to see anything.

It doesn't have a hand crank anymore.

So, in other words, STFU because you're either ignorant or trolling.

Re:Ebooks for the poor

[dan828]

Nothing wrong with a crank for power-- there are probably quite a few Dell laptop owners wishing that they had such sophisticated and reliable technology.

Re:Ebooks for the poor

[punkr0x]

The entire system is strictly freely-licensed.

Who's providing the free textbooks?

It doesn't have a hand crank anymore.

So, in other words, STFU because you're either ignorant or trolling.

Yeah, it has a footpedal doofus! That's completely different!

Actually they discussed several things, including using a foot pedal, and a crank on the external power supply (as opposed to the original design connected directly to the laptop), but they don't appear to have made a decision. The picture in the FA shows a hand crank. But surely you wouldn't have called someone ignorant without doing a little research; what did they end up using for these laptops in Thailand?

Laptops instead of books

[YrWrstNtmr]

each child to receive a laptop instead of books as the books will be provided electronically.
While good to get some tech in these kids hands, I can't help wondering about permanence. Without the printed page, past facts are easily changed to suit current attitudes. I know this isn't quite the case yet. But as we go farther down the road with ebooks, it will be a concern.

Who are we at war with today?

Re:Laptops instead of books

[Penguin Programmer]

Do you remember elementary school? The books you had access to at school were the ones that the school decided you should have access to. It's no harder for the school to say "only books that say ________ is evil are allowed" as it is to change e-books to say "_________ is evil."

I think this is a non-issue here.

Re:Laptops instead of books

[Kesch]

While good to get some tech in these kids hands, I can't help wondering about permanence. Without the printed page, past facts are easily changed to suit current attitudes. I know this isn't quite the case yet. But as we go farther down the road with ebooks, it will be a concern.

You my friend are suffering from a mild case of Tinfoil Hat Syndrome. Electronically stored text is easily as permanent as a dead tree version. (Digital storage medium lifetimes aside). A pdf on my computer will not change its facts to suit anyone's whims save my own. Now I do agree that we should be wary of DRM'ed ebooks as a means of reference material (too easy to lose the decoder in the long term and render it unable to be read). It wouldn't also be entirely paranoid (just mildly, some might even say 'healthy') to be wary of some ebooks on certain subjects that phone home for updates. (Or at least make sure the updates are documented and easy to verify.) Still, I just find it hard to believe that the sort of Orwellian control of ebook information you envision will ever be a huge threat.

Who are we at war with today?

Drugs and terrorism. There's also some unresolved issues in Iraq.

Re:Warranty coverage?

[gardyloo]

I know these laptops are built to be rugged, but is it really a good idea to send them flying through the air?

      It's all the rage. Jon-Benet's killer was apparently doing it there, too.

Taking flight?

[Coopjust]

Looks like Ballmer got to them first...

And yet, here in the US...

[HoboMaster]

Public school children are mostly prohibited from having laptops in class, many private schools only allow laptops with special permission, and the private schools that use laptops still force their students to deal with paper textbooks. What I want to know is, when do we get "a computer for every child" in the US?

Re:And yet, here in the US...

[crhylove]

I can tell you exactly when:

When we have real elections and the good of the people is actually being looked after again by the government. To OLPC the US would only take the price of 20 days of the war in Iraq, but none of the members of congress stand to make much money off of that, so fat chance.

rhY

Sounds like a good idea, but questions remain

[Harry Balls]

I understand these 500 notebook computers are merely a trial run, the actual quantity needed is probably around 5 million.

I see some problems, however.
The minimum wage in Thailand is just below $100 per month. That's right, $100.

What if the notebook computer gets damaged through fault of the kid?
What if the notebook computer gets damaged through no fault of the kid?
What if the notebook computer gets stolen?
What if the notebook computer gets sold by the kid / his [drug-addicted] [financially distressed] parent?

A family with one minimum wage earner could be pushed into financial ruin by any of these events.

Re:It's a trial run^H^H^HFFlight

[ackthpt]

$100 Laptop Takes Flight in Thailand

I certainly *want* a flying laptop! And for a meager $100, too. I suppose the FAA, BAA and IATA are keeping these out of other hands around the world. Those lucky thai!

I for one welcome our new flying laptop overlords

No Hellboy arms actually

[nacs]

And all you have to do is turn the crank madly to see anything. These poor kids are gonna end up with right arms like Hell Boy.

Actually, the real models (ie: non-3d illustration) dont have cranks:

As initially envisioned, the laptops sported a hand crank on the side to generate power, but Negroponte has scrapped that idea because the twisting forces that would be bad for the machine. Instead, some form of power generation device, likely a pedal, will be attached to the AC power adapter, he said.

Re:No Hellboy arms actually

[siriuskase]

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Image:Green_and_white_ma chine.jpg

the only problem is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Replacing books with e-books causes all sorts of problems. No notes on the side of the page, no highlighting, harder to share / look on with a friend, harder to work collaboratively, harder to read at length, harder to transport.

Books are *great*. Reading off of a computer screen is *terrible*.

Re:Untested tech = snakeoil

[fullmetal55]

hence the 500 unit real-world test environment... if this was a 5 million unit deployment... I'd understand this post having validity... but this is a 500 unit deployment... a real-world test... I don't understand your getting irritated calling this "snake oil" because it hasn't been tested... well, this article is a bunch of propaganda about the product, based around the 500 unit test. don't call it snake-oil yet. let the real-world test go through its paces before you get defensive...

After work conversation...

[Mister Whirly]

"Hi honey. What a day. Do we have anything to eat?"
"Um, no, but we do have this ghetto laptop."
"Can you eat it?"
"No."
"That's great. Maybe we can look at pictures of food then."

Printing??

[Six Feet Pete]

How are these kids going to print stuff. The price of ink is higher than the laptop!!