OLPC Cost Rises To $188 Per Laptop

Arathon writes "The amazing '$100 laptop' designed by the 'One Laptop Per Child' program isn't going to make it out the door for that price. CNN reports that the laptops are now expected to cost $188 apiece when they come out later this fall. This is expected to make the program's appeal potentially much smaller, since the developers were relying on the mind-bogglingly low-price to hook governments into the concept of buying laptops for their people. OLPC's spokesman guarantees that the price won't rise further, to 'above $190'. The price differential is being blamed on raw materials costs and currency fluctuation. Is this the end of the OLPC's newsworthiness, or should we continue to hope that it will make the difference that so many have said it will?"

Comments

Price will drop fast

[tsa]

In 6 months it will still be a very useful machine and be a lot cheaper.

Re:Price will drop fast

[Anonymous Coward]

Headlines for August: "US Dollar skyrockets", and "Dollar holds strong again." in multiple international trading magazines usually doesn't mean it's less valuable. But heck I didn't have the time to read the charts.

Re:Price will drop fast

[ILuvRamen]

I don't think they're exactly using top of the line hardware that comes down in price ever. A stick of 256 MB of RDRAM for my 5 year old dell is still like $55 and has been at that price for years. I'd expect it's like surplus or offbrand and pretty old and outdated stuff already. If anything they'll run out of or stop making some parts that it needs within 6 months.
Anyway, you're missing the bigger picture. What do Nigerians do when they get internet equipped computers? So either they're all gonna get rich off scamming people and buy high end Lenovos or the countries that have been working on the program will get pissed about getting 100 "help the nigerian prince transfer his money" e-mails a day and destroy them all.

Re:Price will drop fast

[Anomolous Cowturd]

They could start calling it the 100 pound laptop.

Re:Price will drop fast

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm an adult and am desperate for a new laptop. I currently run a pentium processor IBM thinkpad. It works! It really does! I can't watch Internet videos but I can read e-mail and connect it to devices that require serial ports access. It also runs on Windows 98 SE which is a adequate. I can make it go wireless via a USB/Ethernet connector attached to wireless adapter(it uses cardbus instead so no PCMCIA). Anyways, I wonder how long it'll be before one of these lusciously cheap laptops will fall off a truck in my neighborhood. I'd love to pay $75 or $80 for it. I can't wait. Seriously, I can't wait! Maybe I can bride a kid for one, huh?

Re:Price will drop fast

[Anonymous Coward]

wrong,
currency fluctuation means everything bought in foreign countries with american dollars is currently much more expensive. Perhaps noticed:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6990570.stm
(this is again the price of the euro, but the situation is similar for several other currencies, I do not know where OLPC buys most of their components, but I guess they have to pay more in dollars now).

Re:Price will drop fast

[Anonymous Coward]

um, have you been watching global currency's in the last 18months? The US dollar is crashing hard. Now what that means is even if the prices aren't changing much else where, if they are trying to buy all the materials with US funds, its going to cost more. Just compare the US and Canadian dollars now! Less than 2 years ago 1 Canadian dollar got you a whole 65cents USD. Now, depending on the day, you can get up to 96cents on the dollar. That is a MASSIVE fluctuation since the start of the project. Now this isn't the greatest example because the Canadian dollar has gotten a lot stronger, while the american dollar hasn't fallen as significantly as those numbers show. Dont get me wrong the US dollar has still lost a lot of power, but not as much as my example would have you beleive. But you just cant pretend it has nothing to do with it, especially only 5 dollars... The USD has lost enough power that other currencies are challenging the USD to be the base. The EURO is a good example, as they continue to boast stability, and request consideration to be the base currency.

Oh and Currency fluctuation != inflation. A countries inflation level is a PART of their currency's effectiveness, but by no means is it the sole indicator of a currency's strength.

Re:Price will drop fast

[jmv]

Currency "fluctuation", a.k.a. inflation, may raise this by $5 tops. Currency is not to blame for the constant increase of the price ... and let's not kid ourselves, they've been raising the price since the start of the project.

Currency fluctuation != inflation. Did you know the US dollar lost about 35% of its value when compared to the Canadian dollar in the past 5 years? Same happened compared to other currencies. That's what makes the US price go up -- even though it's irrelevant because the laptops are sold in other countries.

Re:Price will drop fast

[Danga]

I'd love to pay $75 or $80 for it. I can't wait. Seriously, I can't wait! Maybe I can bride a kid for one, huh?

So you are a pimp eh?

Re:Price will drop fast

[gl4ss]

but that headline is for asus and their 100£ laptop.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/114773/asus-stuns-computex-with-100-laptop.html

Re:Price will drop fast

[Anonymous Coward]

However, the OLPC is an international program. If currency fluctuation is the only reason that it has gone up, then the price would not have gone up for anyone whose currency had gone up with respect to the US dollar (which means most of them, these days). The price has gone up for US residents (and governments) much more than it has for other people.

Re:Price will drop fast

[PopeRatzo]

You are correct, AC. I was in Europe recently and couldn't believe how little my money got me.

Regarding the OLPC, I think people are underestimating the vast political forces that are aligned against the possibility of the immense social upheaval that would be caused by millions of third-world children watching "Peanut Butter Jelly Time".

Re:Price will drop fast

[Netssansfrontieres]

Price is directly related to volume, and timing. OLPC has come down from its original one-million-unit minimum order goal, and is taking orders more around 100K units per customer. This makes the price of the laptop higher. Also, Q4 is an expensive time to start mass production this year: the factories are flat out full, as are the components makers - it means that to get a slot in a factory one has to pay a higher price. It's easy to see how to take $30 out of the OLPC price in the first half of 2008. However, hitting $100 in 2008 is unlikely. Still it's the least expensive laptop that has ever been made, and you can use it outside (sunlight readable screen).

Re:Price will drop fast

[weg]

They should announce the price in Euros instead of dollars. That makes the price 135 Euros at the moment,
and it will still be only 140 Euros next year, when the price in US $ will probably be $250.

Re:Price will drop fast

[DavidShor]

Canada is an exception, their currency went up because they are a very large producer of metals, oil , and natural gas. Prices for these goods skyrocketed on the global market, causing their currency to appreciate.

Re:Price will drop fast

[Azarael]

In the same respect, the OLPC should be less expensive to purchase in countries who's currency has appreciated against the USD. I'm no economist but it seems like these two factors will balance each other out to some extent.

Re:Price will drop fast

[Anonymous Coward]

It's $100 after an $88 rebate*

Rebate offer void outside the us, owner of the laptop must be over 18 to qualify for rebate, rebates may be honored, honored rebates may take 4 to 6 weeks for processing but likely will arrive in 6 months to never. In the event a rebate is issued the rebate check may only be cached after 30 days of recieving it but no later than 31 days (rebates may never be cashed or deposited, only cached). Rebates received before the 30 day waiting period and after the 25 period to mail in rebates will be discarded.

Re:Price will drop fast

[guabah]

They could start calling it the 100 £ laptop.

There fixed it for you

Re:Price will drop fast

[Ozwald]

Strange considering there's coupons out there for Vista laptops for $450. Won't that be spooky if the gap closes any more.

Oz

Re:Price will drop fast

[aminorex]

In 6 months, it will probably cost about the same in Bhat, but be nearly twice as expensive in dollars.

Re:Price will drop fast

[rtgarden]

In 6 months it will still be a very useful machine and be a lot cheaper. Yes, very useful. OLPC is an *education project*. It runs on sugar, the most commonly contributed part of the project that I know about is "Scratch" at MIT which is software that runs on "Squeak" on "Sugar". There is an elegance to the way that you can very quickly make and share images music and games in this scratch environment...you can use it on most pc's.The laptop is just part of a larger idea of extending literacy. The results are precious at any price. There is genius hidden out there in the slums and forgotten byways of the world and we need to bring it to the table to help us get out of this mess. ---- too noob for funny sig

Re:Price will drop fast

[Breakfast Pants]

I don't know, if we go by past trends, the price of this device will steadily increase.

Re:Price will drop fast

[Anonymous Coward]

The price will drop fast. Also remember that the $100 price point is USD which are worth about 40% less (in any relevant market) than when the project started. If they had called it the E100 laptop, the apparent price increase wouldn't look nearly so bad.

Re:Price will drop fast

[leenks]

They could start calling it the £100 laptop

There, fixed it for you!

Re:Price will drop fast

[Anonymous Coward]

They could start calling it the 100 £ laptop. There fixed it for you Yes you did, much in the same way you fix a dog by getting it knackered. Using the £ symbol kills the double entendre of the word pound applying to both the weight and the currency.

rehash

[QuantumG]

just because someone from cnn finds out shit we all knew months ago and writes a story about it does not justify duping it here.

There's plenty of new news out there.

Re:rehash

[Cafe Alpha]

Thank you.

Wouldn't it be nice if the "authors" at slashdot actually read slashdot?

Re:rehash

[aichpvee]

But then how would they find the time to roll around in all that slashvertising cash? There's only so many hours in a day. Do you have no sense of priority? Geez!

Re:rehash

[Cafe Alpha]

I'm getting paranoid too, since the quality has dropped so much in the last few years.

Notice that complaints are all getting marked down?

We're being punished for noticing.

Re:rehash

[wirelessbuzzers]

We're being punished for noticing. No, we're being punished for bitching about it. Cuz, like, bitching about Slashdot's quality isn't on topic for a thread on OLPC.

Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[r00t]

Come on now. "currency fluctuation" refers to the US dollar sinking.

That's not going to matter in Argintina, Brazil, Nigeria (well maybe there...), and so on.

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[icydog]

It will matter if the laptops are produced in the US and certain raw materials or components have to be imported, because the American manufacturers will have to pay more USD to get the same amount of input materials.

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[Rolgar]

Money involved in this project will be affected, although it should be in dollars briefly enough before being used to buy more parts and pay for assembly, that it probably won't have much effect. But I suspect they'll use euros, pounds, or some other currency that is more stable to transfer money from foreign governments to suppliers.

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[Anonymous Coward]

Right, so to counter their added costs they'll have to charge more USD, which due to the low value of the USD is the same amount of (other currency).

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[tftp]

It will matter if the laptops are produced in the US

Even expensive laptops are not produced in the US, and the reason is costs. In the USA it would cost you $100 per laptop to just power it up, check that it works, and put it into a box. I seriously doubt that you could squeeze into this price the large amount of manual labor that assembly of notebooks typically requires. Anyone who opened a notebook knows how complicated these things are, because they are so densely packed, and you can't really automate most of the assembly steps because they require human hands and vision and touch (like the tiny Molex connectors which must be installed with tweezers.) It's best, cost-wise, if these laptops never even come close to the USA.

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess one can cherry pick the headlines. After all, why know anything about money when it's funner to speculate with imagination rather than education.

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[taniwha]

it doesn't matter - the US$ in the toilet (thank Mr Bush and his silly war, he's spending more than he has) - while people in the US buying stuff have to pay more people outside the US buying stuff from the US will pay a correspondingly smaller amount.

If this project included a large amount of US$ markup or a large US$ component cost it might make a difference but given its nature I really doubt it does

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[VagaStorm]

Sure, for the us consumers, but the main target is not the us consumer. Other contries will get it at a lower cost since the us $ is currently unusually low. Right now, it is actually very nice to buy stuff from the us since I get about 14% discount compared to what I'm used to pay for the $, and prices hasn't gone up, at lest not on the licenses I usually by from the us :p

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[smittyoneeach]

It's not as simple as sheer ignorant un-educated speculation.
In the information age, the propaganda artist knows that the lumpen proletariat can be massaged and managed.
If enough Chicken Littles squawk that the sky is falling, then the sky may indeed fall.
You don't actually need a tumbling sky, you need doubt about the vitality of Atlas supporting the heavens.

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[Dr. Spork]

Wouldn't it be pretty ironic if they ended up using cheap child labor to make these?

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[Anonymous Coward]

... and if you then export the laptop to developing countries they will pay in USD, meaning that their price will go down ...

Re:Price did not rise much outside of the USA.

[Iskender]

Wouldn't it be pretty ironic if they ended up using cheap child labor to make these? Won't work, every child is allowed to manufacture only one of these - hence the name.

Always a chance for the price to drop...

[StefanJ]

Just find a factory where they can make the cases out of recycled lead-laced Barbie doll heads.

Ahem. Seriously. Sure, this might cause some deals to fall through, but it's still a cheap price for a functional self-contained computer.

Also, with time you'll get learning economies and economies of scale coming into effect.

Price difference

[Rinisari]

Yes, $188 is almost twice the $100 original cost. $100 was the goal, right? Even though OLPC didn't make its goal, $188 is still a ridiculously cheap laptop--no other manufacturer can match that (if they could, they'd be making it)--that will be benefiting people throughout the globe.

Re:Price difference

[suv4x4]

Yes, $188 is almost twice the $100 original cost. $100 was the goal, right? Even though OLPC didn't make its goal, $188 is still a ridiculously cheap laptop--no other manufacturer can match that (if they could, they'd be making it)

Hehe, do you realize how deliciously ironic your post is.

And that machine I link to is actually better than the OLPC. And will sell for the same price to everyone (you'll need to pay 2x or 3x the OLPC price to get it yourself). And can run Windows (XP and less) if need be.

In fact, what OLPC proved is, that commercial entities are already doing their best. Negroponte ranted left and right how the greedy vendors could make a cheap PC but couldn't, but now his dream is vaporware and he's arrived at a pretty pedestrian sublaptop, that has its analog for the same price with the good ol' commercial vendors.

Re:Price difference

[Jussi K. Kojootti]

Yes, $188 is almost twice the $100 original cost.

To be fair, it's 60% more than the original estimate plus the dollar dropping like stone ("fluctuations" my ass)...

Re:Price difference

[suv4x4]

To be fair, it's 60% more than the original estimate plus the dollar dropping like stone ("fluctuations" my ass)...

Right, but the dollar is dropping like stone for Asus as well, surely. How do you explain their price.

Re:Price difference

[pembo13]

I like how you say run Windows XP like that is a selling point

Re:Price difference

[The One and Only]

Capitalism wins again?

Re:Price difference

[This_Is_My_Happening]

I like how you say run Windows XP like that is a selling point Can run Windows is a selling point. Can only run Windows would not be. Luckily this thing ships with Linux.

Re:Price difference

[my $anity 0]

The Asus EEE has gone up $50. This was, like, 3 days ago.

Re:Price difference

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I dunno, I'd say that Eee (ee?) is after a different demographic.

Does the Asus have its own manual power source, like the OLPC's crank or pedal? Nope? There goes everyone in the world without reliable electricity.

Does it have super-idiot-proof software? Not really. Heck, even I (as a fairly experienced computer-user) don't instantly understand half of OpenOffice's features. How is that gonna work for people who've (a) never used a computer before and (b) have no access to tech support?

Is it durable? Like, durable enough to make up for the fact that some potential users would have no access to any sort of computer repairs?

And so on. I'd personally prefer the Asus one, living here in the US with regular electricity, WiFi, and so on, but a whole lot of the OLPC's target audience would be using the Asuses (Asi?) as paperweights pretty quick.

Re:Price difference

[t_little]

I notice that article was from back in June. Since then, the announced prices for the Eee in various markets have almost doubled (e.g. GBP 199 instead of USD 199).

Re:Price difference

[jamarsa]

as a previous poster has noted, the asus price has increased recently.

Re:Price difference

[Anonymous Coward]

> "...deliciously ironic..."

(1) The ASUS Eee PC is priced at $249. That is 30%+ more expensive than the OLPC XO-1.

(2) The ASUS Eee PC *only* *exists* because Intel hates the AMD-based OLPC project. Intel created and funded a competitive reference platform, the Classmate PC, and this forms the basis for the Eee PC.

Of course, the OLPC is a non-profit social welfare program that actually achieves its goals when it forces Intel to dramatically drop prices and cut zero-profit deals with the likes of, say, Pakistan.

This is not irony. This is *accomplishment*.

And yes, I'll be buying an Eee, and thanking *Negroponte* -- not Intel -- for making it happen. :D

Re:Price difference

[modecx]

ASUS=Taiwan. Where do you think the OLPC will be made? Taiwan--just like everything else! The manufacturer makes just about every other damned laptop, too. So, how, precisely, do you believe inflation of the U.S. dollar (currently 2.5%) is strongly related to third party prices from a foreign manufacturer, who is in an country with an inflation rate one fifth of that of the US? Put the facts where your mouth is.

Secondly, contrary to what you're blathering on about earlier, the ASUS EEE and the OLPC are hardly comparable. They don't target the same users or market. The OLPC is designed to be eminently durable (it's well sealed against dust and water), to last a long time on battery (it gets 2000mAh more than the OLPC to get 3 hours run time vs 5+ the OLPC offers), it has a monitor that's better suited to reading textbook style information on the computer, and is designed to have incredible wireless range, so it can serve as a mesh network node. And the ASUS recently became more expensive-$199 to $250.

You need to learn that "better" is a subjective metric when you're comparing stuff like this. Is a Cray faster at computing stuff than the computer on your desk? Absolutely--but that doesn't mean that a Cray makes a good desktop machine, any more than a desktop makes a good super computer. Each is completely unfit for the other's job. Apple and oranges.

Re:Price difference

[Anonymous Coward]

Negroponte ranted left and right how the greedy vendors could make a cheap PC but couldn't, but now his dream is vaporware and he's arrived at a pretty pedestrian sublaptop, that has its analog for the same price with the good ol' commercial vendors. I wouldn't call something that actually exists--including technological innovations such as the special screen, mesh networking, super low-power usage, and Sugar interface--"vapourware". Yes, it's more expensive than hoped, but it's still pretty darn cheap, quite revolutionary, and as real as any solid. Vapourware? Come on!

Re:Price difference

[1u3hr]

that machine I link to [Eee PC] is actually better than the OLPC

"Better" in raw performance spec. But I very much doubt it will be as durable, easy to repair, have as long battery life as the OLPC. Give one of each to two village kids and in 6 months see which is working, which is a doorstop.

A few minutes finds reviews like:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3829
The build is as you would expect for a budget $250 PC, a little shaky. It felt and looked like plastic and if this thing were stepped on I'm sure the result would not be pretty. Having said that, it didn't feel like it was made of something as thin as milk jug plastic. You'd probably want to just put it in a rigid case if you were carrying it in a backpack with a bunch of books, I'm sure a Calculus and Biology book smashed up against it could also have bad results.

Nevertheless, it would have a place, but not in the more rugged environment the OLPC is designed for.

Re:Price difference

[localman]

I'd hesitate to write off the OLPC just yet. It is not a general purpose machine and wasn't intended to be. Third world children need a different laptop than the rest of us do. If the technology works out to be a better fit, that's still a big win. Also, $11 isn't much difference in price, but $11 times 1 million units sure as hell is. As much as your cynicism wants to kick in and declare all good efforts to be worthless, I'd hold on for a few more years to see what actually shakes out of this endeavor.

Cheers.

Re:Price difference

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you realize how rediculously uninformed your post is? The eee is not going to make the $199 mark (at least as originally speced): http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=42217

Both spec and price seem to be changing. The base flash drive size has dropped from 4GB to 2, base memory from 512MB to 256, the onboard VGA camera has disappeared from the base model, and yet the anticipated price has risen by $250.

Re:Price difference

[Hercynium]

I'm not saying the fluctuation theory is correct ('cause I know next to nothing about economics) but Asus is a Taiwanese company, so they probably aren't buying their parts with dollars.

Re:Price difference

[jollyreaper]

In fact, what OLPC proved is, that commercial entities are already doing their best. Negroponte ranted left and right how the greedy vendors could make a cheap PC but couldn't, but now his dream is vaporware and he's arrived at a pretty pedestrian sublaptop, that has its analog for the same price with the good ol' commercial vendors. And did you see any companies working on ultra-cheap laptops before OLPC demonstrated there was a demand? I'd betcha a shiny nickel that you would have been laughed out of the boardroom if you suggested that sort of thing before OLPC was announced. With the massive public interest in what OLPC is offering, even an idiot CEO would sit up and take note. "Hmm, costs 1/8th of our low-end laptop, market studies say we could increase sales volume by 16x, we might just have ourselves an idea here."

Re:Price difference

[smitth1276]

I saw the Negroponte get all pissy on 60 Minutes because Intel decided to compete with them and build a cheaper machine... this was never about getting a good, affordable product to poor kids for Negroponte, or he would welcome the competition.

Re:Price difference

[An Onerous Coward]

>> In fact, what OLPC proved is, that commercial entities are already doing their best.

That's a load of crap. The Eeee!!!!!! didn't exist (hell, wasn't even on the drawing board) when the OLPC announced its intentions. Nor was Intel's Classmate PC. Commercial vendors have had the ability to make such ultracheap PCs for a long time now, but they didn't break down and do it until the OLPC made such machines inevitable. Before that, laptop manufacturers knew that each ultracheap machine they made would often end up substituting for the $800-$1200 laptop they would otherwise be selling to the customer.

Negroponte's reading of the market was spot on.

Re:Price difference

[DavidShor]

No, he would not. The idea is that intel can temporarily undercut the price, until OLPC folds. Then, they stop.

Re:Price difference

[An Onerous Coward]

1) The Classmate PC is not cheaper than the OLPC.

2) As has been thoroughly described elsewhere in this thread, the OLPC has all sorts of features that are intended specifically to promote education in the third world. The Classmate PC's only claim to fame is "being a cheap laptop".

3) The company that initially dismissed the OLPC as "a gadget" then turns around and starts marketing a similar device to the same populations? And without including many of the features that the OLPC project thinks are necessary to make such a product truly useful? I understand perfectly well why Negroponte would be pissed, and it has little to do with who gets credit.

Re:Price difference

[TheRaven64]

I was at a presentation by Alan Kay on the OLPC project a year or so ago. Someone in the audience asked him about commercial competition. His attitude was 'the more the better;' as a non-profit organisation, his team have no financial stake in the success of the project. That's why all of their designs and software are open; if someone else comes along and makes a better one for a lower price, they consider it a win. Part of their sales pitch to governments includes the idea that they can take the design and start making their own if they want to later.

Re:Price difference

[Anonymous Coward]

Third world children need a different laptop than the rest of us do.

Intel inside, nigger in front.

Re:Price difference

[JoeCommodore]

Where's the generator? One of the design features of the OLPC is that it can be used in areas without power.

Re:Price difference

[Anonymous Coward]

Negroponte ranted left and right how the greedy vendors could make a cheap PC but couldn't, but now his dream is vaporware and he's arrived at a pretty pedestrian sublaptop, that has its analog for the same price with the good ol' commercial vendors.

I beg your pardon but you are only addressing one small part of the vision behind OLPC.

What has been accomplished is magnificent:

• a laptop with its own recharger
• a laptop that can be serviced in the field by lay persons with limited tech resources
• a laptop that can participate out of the box with a wifi peerage network

There is a lot more of the same. The initial price was but one target, and while that arrow is not going to hit the bullseye, it will strike one of the higher scoring rings. Meanwhile, the OLPC deserves kudos for racking up good scores on a lot of other measures of success.

Re:Price difference

[Anonymous Coward]

(1) The ASUS Eee PC is priced at $249. That is 30%+ more expensive than the OLPC XO-1.

The $250 model is going to have 256MB RAM / 2GB flash storage. The $400 model is going to be what their initial announcement said was going to cost $199 (512MB RAM/4GB flash, webcam). If I'm going to spend $400 on a laptop -- and it's still a *cute*, *tiny* laptop -- I'm going to go out and buy an eMachines or something. Don't laugh; eMachines have been good&cheap since Gateway bought them.

Re:Price difference

[Bing Tsher E]

"Hmm, costs 1/8th of our low-end laptop

The price of low end laptops can be gauged, today, by prices at places like WalMart, Target, and Frys. Places which regularly sell laptops in the $400 range.

So where does this '1/8' figure come from? Are you only shopping at the Apple Store? (even they have laptops that are less than 1/8 of $170)

Re:Price difference

[jollyreaper]

The price of low end laptops can be gauged, today, by prices at places like WalMart, Target, and Frys. Places which regularly sell laptops in the $400 range.

So where does this '1/8' figure come from? Are you only shopping at the Apple Store? (even they have laptops that are less than 1/8 of $170) They're down that low at Wallyworld now? I haven't priced up a laptop in a few years. My laptop had a listed price of $600 but between buying a spare battery, charger to keep at home as well as the one in the travel bag, extra gig of ram, plus shipping and handling, it was up to $800. I figured that was a more realistic price level to go from, low prices from many places can be quite deceptive.

Re:Price difference

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod bro up fo shizzle.

Re:Price difference

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you only shopping at the Apple Store? (even they have laptops that are less than 1/8 of $170)

An Apple for 20 bucks plus chump change? Go fuck yourself, eejit.

Re:Price difference

[grcumb]

Negroponte ranted left and right how the greedy vendors could make a cheap PC but couldn't, but now his dream is vaporware and he's arrived at a pretty pedestrian sublaptop, that has its analog for the same price with the good ol' commercial vendors.

Vapourware? That's weird. You see, I have an XO laptop sitting right here on my desk. It's remarkably massy, compared to most vapour.

I've been testing the laptop for almost a month now. In fact, when my other 'real' laptop's wireless went south, I switched to the XO full-time for a week. It's not going to break any speed records, but it sure as heck is not pedestrian. A few points:

• Its display is - bar none - the best I've ever used. It's crisp, vivid, and handles all lighting conditions better than any other portable device I've ever seen.
• Its wireless reception is demonstrably superior to normal laptops. On two or three occasions, I've been the only person in the room who managed to get a decent wireless signal. It was kind of amusing to see a CS professor with extensive experience in long-distance wireless networks sheepishly asking to borrow my XO so he could check his email.
• The networking interface is one of the simplest and most graceful UIs I've ever used. It really Just Works.
• I have yet to see another 'run-of-the-mill' laptop continue running when you empty a watering can over its keyboard. The XO does.
• It runs on 4 watts. 'Nuff said.

I could go on, but I think I've made it adequately clear that your statements are hopelessly wide of the mark.

Last month, some friends and colleagues of mine delivered twenty XOs to Morovo Lagoon in the Solomon Islands, for use at Distance Learning Centre there. I can assure you that the children who received them in no way concur with your hopelessly cynical assessment of this technology. So, with all due respect, kindly take your baseless grousing somewhere else and let the rest of us get on with the task of trying to leave this world a little better than we found it.

HTH HAND

Re:Price difference

[Jussi K. Kojootti]

It looks like you have a real agenda in this discussion... I didn't even mention Asus, why on earth would I need to explain their pricing? I was just trying to say that "doubling in price" is not the whole truth here. Now that you brought up the Asus: it seems their pricing is changing just like the OLPCs.

ASUS Eee

[Anonymous Coward]

At that price, one might as well get an Asus EEE instead. Unless Asus is also raising prices...

Re:ASUS Eee

[Anonymous Coward]

Asus is raising its prices. The cheapest is now a $249 verison without webcam, 256MB memory and 2GB flash drive. The really good ones look like they're going to start at around $400. http://www.eeeuser.com/

The EEE went from being a fantastic deal to expensive toy and it hasn't even been released yet. The Palm Folio is staring to look good in comparison.

Re:ASUS Eee

[tsa]

Wow that is a serious machine! Neat!

Re:ASUS Eee

[mcrh]

The Palm Folio is staring to look good in comparison.

Except that the Foleo got cancelled earlier this month. I'm starting to think that the entire subnotebook class of computers is just a cruel joke perpetrated on investors and early adopters.

Re:ASUS Eee

[evilviper]

At that price, one might as well get an Asus EEE instead.

People WITH ELECTRICITY might be better off with an EEE (better know as Intel's answer to OLPC).

For those without, as keeping it powered-up will easily cost more than the laptop in no time.

And that's not even mentioning the infinitely more flexible and durable hardware of the OLPC that will stand up to abuse from children, or the incredible (open source) educational software and interface it comes with, and the hardware that ties in with it.

Re:ASUS Eee

[enrevanche]

The OLPC is not aimed at one who might as well get an Asus EEE instead.

Plus

• The Asus dropped in spec (half of the memory, half of the flash) and raised the base price by $50
• Is not durable, the case is crap and not designed for any kind of rugged environment, especially for kids
• The Asus uses Starbuck's type WIFI which does not do p2p. This makes only suitable for places with an established WIFI infrastructure and this spotty at best in the most developed countries.
• The software on the OLPC is designed for learning. For many things the source is just there, no internet download required.

These laptops are designed for children, especially in developing countries, not the Starbuck's MySpace/Facebook crowd.

Only USD

[MarkRose]

It's okay, it's 188 USD, not 188 in some highly valued currency.

Re:Only USD

[markov_chain]

It's $100 in 2002 dollars :)

Re:Only USD

[IamTheRealMike]

That's nonsense. You're mixing up currency fluctuations with inflation. Go use the handy inflation calculator courtesy of Uncle Sam to find out that $100 in 2002 has the same buying power as $115 today. Now, you can argue about how governments calculate inflation or even what inflation is, but it's definitely not that high.

Fact is the OLPC missed its $100 target a long time ago. There were a couple of "sacred cows" that were enormously expensive resource wise and which they raised the specs to accomodate instead of sacrificing them. I'm talking about Gecko and Python - both of which gobble resources, especially memory, like there's no tomorrow. They already doubled the memory capacity of the laptop and who knows how the final thing will perform, they're still making major changes to the hardware. There are lighter tools that could have been used, but some of them are proprietary or ugly so they were cast aside (for instance, WebKit/Opera and C++).

Re:Only USD

[IamTheRealMike]

they're still making major changes to the hardware.

Sorry, that should read major changes to the software

Re:Only USD

[marcosdumay]

Well, for us here at Brazil, dollar closed 16-9-2002 (looks like 15 was a sunday) at R$ 3.187. Yesterday, it closed at R$1.900. So, US$ 100 at 2002 was R$ 318.7, US$ 188 now is R$ 357.2.

Didn't go down, but didn't even go up with inflation either.

Re:Only USD

[enrevanche]

The PC is made entirely outside of the US (it can't really be made in the US since the US doesn't really make anything). The US inflation calculator is pointless. The dollar has dropped dramatically since then against almost every currency. If you calculate the currency change against the Euro, the difference is more like 35% (0.88 to 1.36). Pricing the OLPC in dollars is clearly the biggest culprit.

Re:Only USD

[TheRaven64]

Go use the handy inflation calculator courtesy of Uncle Sam to find out that $100 in 2002 has the same buying power as $115 today Depends where you are, of course. In June 2002, $100 was £68.24. Now, it's £49.82. Going the other way, £68.24 now buys me $136.98. If you bought pounds with $100 2002 dollars, and then sold them now, you would have made a 36.98% profit.

Re:Only USD

[markov_chain]

I thought it would be such a preposterous number you guys would know it's a joke... so 88% inflation over 5 years doesn't raise any red flags? I'm starting to seriously worry about this country!

What's the point?

[okmijnuhb]

What's the point of providing laptops to people with no money who spend most of their time scratching around looking for food and water?
To bombard them with ads for things they have no hope of affording?
How about education instead? I know there are online institutions, but give 'em a computer and they'll go straight to something else. Prawns.
Or in the (paraphrased) words of Sam Kinnison, send them luggage, YOU LIVE IN THE DESERT! MOVE TO WHERE THE FOOD IS!

Re:What's the point?

[whistlingtony]

Errr....

Yes, with a computer they might look up crop prices, or read online articles about their vocation, get gardening hints, etc etc etc.

It's not a laptop project, it's an education project. That's why it doesn't matter that it's not a powerful laptop.

Or change the project name

[Anonymous Coward]

0.532 Laptops Per Child

Re:Or change the project name

[Tablizer]

0.532 Laptops Per Child

Or just cut the children in half. Worked in the Bible.

Re:Or change the project name

[EvanED]

What? No, you're backwards! If you cut the children in half there will be FEWER laptops per child since there will be more kids.

What you need to do is duck tape a few together. Heck, tape them together in bundles of three and you'll have the 1.5 laptops per child p.

Re:Or change the project name

[Tablizer]

What? No, you're backwards! If you cut the children in half there will be FEWER laptops per child since there will be more kids.

Shhhh, Camelot's only a model.

But its only $187 on ebay!

[Tablizer]

nuf sed

Name Change in order

[MrCopilot]

How about the 100 pound laptop.

According to Google Calculator
188 U.S. dollars = 92.7204577 British pounds

Re:Name Change in order

[Anonymous Coward]

So send kids Osborne Laptops?

Re:Name Change in order

[bjorniac]

100 pound laptop? And I thought mine was heavy - do you work for Dell?

Re:Name Change in order

[proverbialcow]

Might as well call it The Nutcracker.

Change the parameters

[Anonymous Coward]

How about try for the "100 British Pound" laptop?

hmm

[thatskinnyguy]

That extra $88 may in deed be the deal-breaker. Many companies rely on psychological pricing in order to lure customers into thinking that they are getting a good deal on a product. In this case, they should have touted "the $200 laptop for all". Then $188 may seem like an even better deal by comparison.

Re:hmm

[barl0w]

They should just call it $199 and use the extra $11 for other kids that definitely can't afford one. I'd buy one still for $200, unless the ASUS EEE kicks its butt. I never realized how small these laptops were though, until I saw one in person

Re:hmm

[thatskinnyguy]

I wanted one the first time I saw one regardless of price. (The EEE that is.)

Re:God bless these children

[Satan Gave Me a Taco]

this is /. not fucking-morons-invent-unrealistic-mini-soap-operas.com You seem to be somewhat confused about the nature of Slashdot.

we've discussed this months ago

[martin-boundary]

We've discussed the price increase on slashdot before. The problem is the hardware, but not because all hardware is inherently expensive.

It's OLPC's recent goal of being operating system agnostic, rather than linux specific. We know that specially tailored linux distributions can run on very old (and very cheap) hardware, but Windows and OSX can't. If the goal is to be able to run any operating system, then the specs have to be pretty recent, and that means more expensive hardware.

The issue is that OLPC are pressured into running Windows by American and other rich Western schools that like the idea of buying a cheap PC and don't care that much if the price is $100 or $190 as a result.

$90 is 90 days pay for poor people who live on $1 a day. In those countries, the governments will never buy massive numbers of OLPCs, and at $190 a pop they'll even buy a whole lot less of them.

To be fair

[Rob Simpson]

I'm pretty sure that "pay twice the price thing" has no official basis and was just a petition someone started.

Also, while I'm certainly going to snap up an ASUS Eee - it looks like an awesome little subnotebook, especially since laptops that size are usually only available as fancy $2000 machines - I'd also buy an OLPC if I got the chance. Being cheap is about the only thing they have in common.

The ASUS Eee is light and has a tiny screen (even for a subnotebook) and a 3 hour battery life, while the OLPC is a rugged machine with sunlight-readable display and a hand charger.

Re:To be fair

[suv4x4]

I'm pretty sure that "pay twice the price thing" has no official basis and was just a petition someone started.

No, the commercial version will have different color and will cost twice the OLPC. At the time it was supposed to cost $100, Negroponte talked about commercializing at $200.

As recent as two months ago he announced the commercial ones will be $350, given the OLPC's price rised up to $170.

Now since it's $188, I espect the commercial version to be closer to $400.

Being cheap is about the only thing they have in common.

Jesus, yet again another deliciously ironic post. Looks like they don't have that in common, after all.

Re:To be fair

[suv4x4]

The ASUS Eee is light and has a tiny screen (even for a subnotebook) and a 3 hour battery life, while the OLPC is a rugged machine with sunlight-readable display and a hand charger.

My, my what a spec spin. Let me make one myself, using the official specs of the OLPC and Eee:

OLPC RAM: 256 MB;
Eee RAM: 512 MB;

OLPC storage: 1GB;
Eee storage: 4GB;

OLPC Screen: 7.5 inch;
Eee Screen: 7 inch;

(wait a sec, so Eee has tiny 7 inch screen and OLPC has huge 7.5 inch screen, I see, I see)

Re:To be fair

[ricegf]

Sure, a Western adult would prefer an Eee - I can't wait to test drive one myself. But you omit a few other differences that demonstrate why OLPC is better for their target market - children in developing nations.

Eee networking - conventional wifi-to-Internet
OLPC networking - mesh ad hoc OR wifi-to-Internet

Eee screen - conventional indoor only
OLPC screen - unique dual-mode, clearly readable even in bright sunlight

Eee hardware - conventional non-rugged Western office / home environment; requires stable AC power
OLPC hardware - sealed against elements, child-tolerant; runs on AC power, hand or foot power, solar cell

Eee software - conventional Linux
OLPC software - highly customized for non-computer-literate children

Eee development - requires conventional developer tools; system restore requires external media
OLPC development - "show source" button allows children to explore and modify most aspects of the environment with nothing more than the built-in Python editor; and versioned filesystem ensures machine can be rolled all the way back to original state with no external media support

The OLPC is very unconventional, and is much better suited to children in developing classrooms than any other machine on the market. *That* is what makes it special, not an arbitrarily low price point.

Re:To be fair

[Mostly a lurker]

According to Wikipedia:

The price and specifications for the Eee PC have changed from those first announced by ASUS. The price rose from US$199 to US$249, while the base (USA model) went from 4 to 2 gigabyte solid state drive, the VGA camera was dropped and the RAM dropped from 512MB to 256MB.

I still consider both the OLPC and Eee PC to be extremely interesting. However, the rugged nature, lower power consumption, genuinely inovative interface, mesh networking and superior security model makes the OLPC a tremendous achievement, even at $188 (or $210 if that happens).

Re:To be fair

[suv4x4]

Eee software - conventional Linux
OLPC software - highly customized for non-computer-literate children

You underestimate children. And the OS UI is written in Python, not compatible with anything out there.

If those kids will be growing up and joining the world market, they'll need to be introduced to common pieces of hardware, not be walled off and special needs taken for their incredible computer illiteracy.

The last thing a kid will have a problem with, is getting the hang of a stock Windows/Linux OS.

Re:To be fair

[dubl-u]

You're behind the times. The base Eee has dropped to 256 MB RAM, the storage to 2 GB, and they dropped the camera. See the Eee Wikipedia entry for more.

And what you're missing is that they only reason the Eee exists is the OLPC program. Which was partly the point. Nobody believed it was possible or reasonable when they started, as everybldy was focused on high-end laptops. Now a major manufacturer is trying to match them. That's not a problem, that's success.

Re:To be fair

[ToasterMonkey]

I don't think the idea was to turn the children of developing countries into software engineers. Isn't this pretty similar to how most early PC's shipped with BASIC interpreters? The intent there wasn't to crank out professional BASIC coders but to make it easier for novices to make their PCs do custom work. Now, being python as opposed to BASIC, I fail to see how anyone is underestimating children as you say. What would you hope to offer these kids with a stock Linux or Windows system? A chance to take a stab at C/C++ with Visual Studio? Learn MFC? Learn how to use gcc and make? Is that really a goal here, [try] to crank out software engineers in developing nations? I think these machines are tools to encourage learning and connect otherwise remote peoples.

Re:To be fair

[Bing Tsher E]

Part of the idea with early PCs and BASIC was that there wasn't much software at all available for the machines. MS/PC-DOS wasn't something you could compile on your own machine, mind you. It was built on minicomputers and 'injected' onto the PCs. There was no 'C' for the PC for quite awhile. There was a Basic compiler, a Pascal compiler, and assembly language.

The PC-DOS 1.0 diskette has a bunch of *.bas programs on it. More than on any later version. And remember, the first few generations of IBM-PC had a cassette interface. A BASIC interpreter ("cassette basic") in ROM will pop up if no disk-based boot media is detected all the way up to the IBM-XT.

I recently dug out and compiled MORTGAGE.BAS from a PC-DOS disk image and turned it into an .exe file using an ancient Quick Basic compiler. It's a nice small fast program for generating an amoritzation schedule.

Re:To be fair

[metrometro]

Agreed! I saw a demo of the OLPC and I was pretty damned impressed. Ignore the price and freak out about the potential of it to transform developing nations, in the same way that mobile phones have. Some of the technology in it, like the mesh networking node (which can run while the machine's turned off on ridiculously little power), and the sunlight-readable screen are going to pop on all kinds of expensive phones and gadgets pretty soon. It's also a featherwieght and very thrifty with battery power, which I really don't associate with cheap-laptop at all.

Re:To be fair

[ricegf]

You underestimate children.

? Perhaps I was unclear. I don't mean that OLPC is "dumbed down" (it's not). I mean that the custom UI is designed for self-directed exploration of both the computer and the world accessible to the computer, with minimal IT infrastructure. This is simply not true of off-the-shelf laptops, as anyone who gets to help maintain them will testify. (And I trust you're aware that the child can easily switch from the custom UI to Gnome, right? At least, the one I played with at PyCon did, and the speaker indicated that was the plan for production.)

Thus, a child in Nigeria, let's call her Fa'izah, handed a stock Windows computer (your words), would have [a] no problem or [b] much problem with the following?

1. Connecting wirelessly to another stock Windows laptop in the next village, 1 km away, which is not connected to the Internet, and is owned by (let's say) Maimunaand, and collaboratively working with her on an art project;
2. Figure out how to connect her new friend Maimuna to the Internet, using a peer-to-peer multi-hop mesh network from Maimuna's laptop to Fa'izah's laptop to the satellite dish at the school, 2 km in the opposite direction from Maimuna, so Maimuna can browse Wikipedia for ideas on the art project;
3. After taking a wrong turn in the project, "rolling back" several saves to the version that looked best, and restarting from there; and
4. Having finished the project, and become interested in how Microsoft Paint draws patterns, look at the source code to figure it out for herself.

That is the type of collaborative, self-directed educational experience that OLPC is intending to foster. Sorry to sound like an evangelist - I'm not even affiliated with OLPC in any way. But as a teacher, I get pretty jazzed at the possibilities of some of their innovations, and hope to see them in the mainstream soon.

And the OS UI is written in Python, not compatible with anything out there.

Uh, Microsoft? http://www.codeplex.com/IronPython/ (Or maybe I misunderstand what you mean by "not compatible with anything"?)

The point of providing a UI in a dynamic language is to make it easily modified by the children (which is not under-estimating them, IMHO). Python is a good choice because (1) it runs on pretty much every other computer and virtual platform in the world, so the knowledge gained will transfer wherever the child goes, (2) it's easier to learn than most languages (*far* easier than C++!), and (3) it's a full strength language promoted and used heavily by some of the largest corporations in the world - at Google, for instance, 'python is one of the 3 "official languages" alongside with C++ and Java' http://panela.blog-city.com/python_at_google_greg_stein__sdforum.htm, not to mention NASA, Lockheed Martin, Industrial Light and Magic... well, you can google if you like.

The XO isn't perfect, but I obviously think rather highly of it, and believe it is unorthodox in all the right places. If you still don't see why, we are probably just looking for very different things in an educational laptop. Time will tell which approach prevails, I suppose.

Re:To be fair

[hey!]

If those kids will be growing up and joining the world market, they'll need to be introduced to common pieces of hardware, not be walled off and special needs taken for their incredible computer illiteracy.

Hardly. Common hardware won't be common in ten years or so. Also, "common" systems come with a lot of infrastructure, in the form of support, that are sunk costs. Do you really believe that the operating systems and network standards we have are the best possible, or the best possible given that we've already trained legions of workers to deal with their shortcomings?

The best solution is the one that connects the most kids to the rest of the world, and to each other.

If dumping first world office technology on third world schools was the answer, I'd give you a much better approach: collect and refurbish used laptops from first world companies. If they aren't finished depreciating them, they'd get a tax deduction that would offset getting the latest technology in their workers' hands.

Re:To be fair

[netcrusher88]

You underestimate children. And the OS UI is written in Python, not compatible with anything out there.

Not compatible? You mean like how Firefox is the built-in browser and it is rediculously easy to switch to the built-in Gnome interface? Download and try the Live CD before you criticize it.

Dubious Claims

[Jane Q. Public]

I have a hard time believing this. When I can go to a local store and buy a very decent computer, complete with monitor, for $300, I find it difficult to believe that a limited-functionality (perhaps a bit slower, etc.) laptop can't be built for $100.

I know that is a low price, but what about, just for example, all the vendors who were supposed to be behind this deal? Did they renege due to "currency fluctuations"?

Currency "fluctuation"

[Per Abrahamsen]

> Currency "fluctuation", a.k.a. inflation

Currency fluctuation doesn't refer to inflation, but to the low exchange rate for dollar

> may raise this by $5 tops

The dollar has dropped 10% in value compared to second largest currency (the EURO) since the announcement of the OLPC.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[aichpvee]

My fellow Americans, allow me to take this opportunity to encourage you to get in your last few "Canadian monopoly money" jokes while you still can. You may not get another chance.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[mardin]

The EURO market is the biggest single-currency market in the world. There are still more dollars in the world due to historical reasons, but that won't be long.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[yada21]

Currency fluctuation doesn't refer to inflation, but to the low exchange rate for dollar

And the exchange rate is driven by...?

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[Lemmy Caution]

A lot of factors, of which inflation may or may not be one at any given time.

Some of it is based on currency markets and speculation, trade balances, etc.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[yada21]

But the currect case is because the US has worse inflation than well, pretty much everywhere except Zimbabwey it seems.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[Lemmy Caution]

That's simply not true," as a very cursory search shows. Great Britain's inflation rate outpaced the US by a good measure, for example, yet the pound was and remains very strong against the dollar.

It is more accurate to say that the US dollar was overvalued for quite a few years, and that this is an overdue correction.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[Znork]

"And the exchange rate is driven by...?"

A whole lot of factors, most of them boiling down to demand.

Central bank interest rates have some effect; they're one factor that can be used to encourage a demand for a currency.

As such, inflation is tied to, but neither exactly the cause or the effect of currency fluctuations. A drop in a currency will result in (possibly) measured inflation as the price on imports goes up, and get countered by a central bank (unless countered by deflation elsewhere), thus (possibly) stabilizing currency again.

Of course, if you run the printers and simply print huge amounts of currency faster than the economy grows you'll get both inflation and a drop in the exchange rate, but again, the exchange rate drop isnt driven by the inflation, but both are driven by an oversupply of currency.

Then you have various other factors such as trade imbalances, investment imbalances and currency speculation which can drive an exchange rate both up and down (indirectly through demand for the currency).

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[evilviper]

The EURO market is the biggest single-currency market in the world.

The Euro market is only nominally larger than the USD market. An impressive accomplishment still, but try not to over-hype it.

The EU isn't nearly as strong of a confederation as a single country (the US) and those independent nations can potentially chose to opt out of the group/market.

So I don't think the dollar has anything to worry about. The Euro includes a bit more risk, is a bit less open, and really just doesn't offer anything substantially better. I'm sure most will simply continue using the USD.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[eiapoce]

And the exchange rate is driven by...? On textbooks you can read it is a function of internal interest rates and monetary politics. But now to me it looks like it's linked to the price of petrol (in dollars) so that the euro enjoys a limited insurance as petrol costs raise because the rate of the dollar deflates.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[drsquare]

The Euro market is only nominally larger than the USD market. An impressive accomplishment still, but try not to over-hype it.

However the expansion of the EU will only make the Euro even stronger, once all the poor Eastern European countries get richer.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[kwark]

The eastern european countries aren't part of the euro zone and won't be for a some years. Not even all those "rich" western and northern nations are in the zone.

Last time I checked the euro zone only contained 12 of the 27 EU nations.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[Fireflymantis]

My fellow Americans, allow me to take this opportunity to encourage you to get in your last few "Canadian monopoly money" jokes while you still can. You may not get another chance. Speaking as a Canadian: "HAHAHA"... I mean... Time for some patriotism... BUY THEIR CURRENCY!

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[evilviper]

However the expansion of the EU will only make the Euro even stronger,

Potentially... Or not.

And in the mean time, the US continues expanding NAFTA/FTA to accomplish much the same thing.

Predictions can go either way.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[drsquare]

The NAFTA doesn't even have its own currency, and in all likelihood, never will.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[Xolotl]

Check again, 13 states now, for a total of 316 million people, also places like Monaco, the Vatican, Andorra etc which are not EU but use the Euro. Cyprus and Malta will join in January 2008. Also, a number of countries are in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, which means that while they don't actually use the Euro, their exchange rates are linked to it within certain boundaries.

Interestingly, several countries have started to use Euro for foreign trade because of the isntability of the dollar, oddly enough including North Korea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurozone

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[evilviper]

Of course not. Why create a new currency when the USD is already standard and established? That wasn't the point, anyhow.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[aichpvee]

The jokes totally on you guys at the moment, though. Last I heard prices in Canada were still reflecting the lower exchange rate and you guys were getting raped. I'm sure that won't last, but HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA while it does.

Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[unitron]

The NAFTA doesn't even have its own currency, and in all likelihood, never will.

Yes it will. The banana. As soon as they finish turning the entire Western Hemisphere into banana republics.

(my personal suspicion is that Intel is responsible, at least in part, for the price increase)

This is just in...

[Spy der Mann]

The OLPC project has just been renamed to HLPC. "Half laptop per child".

Never blame the market for problems that are real.

[mosb1000]

"We know that specially tailored linux distributions can run on very old (and very cheap) hardware, but Windows and OSX can't."

The OLPC has 256 MB of ram, and 1GB of flash memory. It can't run either of those operating systems. If they were trying to make it run these operating systems, they did a really poor job.

"The issue is that OLPC are pressured into running Windows by American and other rich Western schools that like the idea of buying a cheap PC and don't care that much if the price is $100 or $190 as a result."

That is speculation and it probably isn't true. I'd doubt reducing the hardware specs would make the laptop any cheaper. It just costs a certain amount to money to put a laptop together, and there's no amount of spec and feature reduction that can change that. The truth is that OLPC was largely unaware of the difficulties this kind of project would face. OLPC set an unreasonable goal for the price, and now they're coming to terms with the reality of the situation. Initially OLPC had said that the market wouldn't produce an inexpensive laptop because the profits weren't there. It turns out that the market wasn't making them because it's not possible.

Uh huh

[Rob Simpson]

At which end of the laptop price range is $400? Right. Also consider that it (supposedly) comes with spare parts to repair it and is ruggedized...

prolly a 100 euro laptop by the end of the year

[Anonymous Coward]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=EURUSD=X&t=5y

oil, commodities and laptop prices remain stable unless you measure with a devaluating currency

No, price will not drop, but HW will change

[AHumbleOpinion]

In 6 months it will still be a very useful machine and be a lot cheaper.

They are already buying the least expensive parts available. Parts will not get any cheaper, but they will get better parts over time. Prices for a given part follow a U shaped curve, it starts high, comes down and hits a bottom, and then starts going up again (unless it just exits the market completely). What this project will most likely do is hop from part to part to stay at the bottom of the various curves.

The remaining highlights

[sweet_petunias_full_]

The biggest differences between this and some other low-power laptop (15W) is:

1. Open source from the ground up, based on fedora core 6.
2. Open firmware.
3. It was going to have a hand crank to power it, which would have kept battery disposal from becoming a problem, but that idea was dropped. It's still neat in the sense that it accepts a wider voltage range than anything I've ever seen, but if the battery fails, replacing it will be a major cost for some people.
4. Agressive power management.
5. Includes a 640x480 video camera. (If this had a hand crank, it would have a calling as "field equipment".)
6. No hard disk, only 1G of flash.
7. Privacy issues?

One of the most surprising things is this, from here.

As a matter of practicality and given the necessity to enhance performance and reliability while containing costs, XO is not burdened by the bloat of excess code, the "featureitis" that is responsible for much of the clumsiness, unreliability, and expense of many modern laptops. XO will start up in an instant and move briskly through its operations. We accomplish this by focusing on only those features that children need for learning.

If true, there's hope that this thing will compare favorably to its competition, which probably doesn't share this philosophy.

Still apples and oranges

[Rob Simpson]

Try dropping an ASUS Eee and the OLPC (unless those responsible for the latter are lying, which is certainly a possibility) and see what happens.

Also, I guess I just assumed it was bigger because all I could remember was the resolution...

OLPC:
7.5" diagonal LCD (6.0" x 4.5")
Dual mode operation: Reflective Monochrome or Transflective Colour
TFT LCD driving
1200x900, 200dpi resolution
less than 1W in colour mode, 0.2W in B&W mode
LED backlight

Eee:
7 in TFT LCD @ 800×480 (though apparently a - more expensive - larger screen model may be up to 1280×768...no details I've heard of yet, though).

Re:Still apples and oranges

[Zerth]

The OLPC only has 1200x900 in black and white mode, in color mode it is only 588x441 and is deliberately blurry to compensate for the diagonal pixel layout.

It's still pretty good

[Rob Simpson]

It's a tiny, fanless, silent subnotebook. The only other laptops that have these features are in the $2000-3000 range.

Re:It's still pretty good

[Anonymous Coward]

The EEE is not fanless.

Re:God bless these children

[Anonymous Coward]

Day 1-XXX

My brain is not developed any more than another ape fetus.
But if magically I developed language skills before birth, It is likely that I have already surpased the intelligence of Sky-Daddy worshiping, science-denying Jesus Freak.

Day XXX

I was born, Mommy decided to have me. Yay.

What the fuck is this. I have 12 siblings.

Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.

Left arm gone clear up to the elbow

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah here comes Amos
Now Amos Moses was a Cajun
He lived by himself in the swamp
He hunted alligator for a living
He'd just knock them in the head with a stump
The Louisiana law gonna get you Amos
It ain't legal hunting alligator down in the swamp boy

Now everyone blamed his old man
For making him mean as a snake
When Amos Moses was a boy
His daddy would use him for alligator bait
Tie a rope around his neck and throw him in the swamp
Alligator man in the Louisiana bayou
About forty-five minutes south of Tippitoe Louisiana
Lived a man called Dr. Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah
They raised up a son who could eat his weight in groceries
Named him after a man of the cloth
Called him Amos Moses

Now the folks around south Louisiana
Said Amos was a hell of a man
He could trap the biggest meanest alligator
And he'd just use one hand
That's all he got left cause an alligator bit it
Left arm gone clear up to the elbow

Well the sheriff caught wind that Amos was up in the swamp
Trading alligator skins
So he snuck in the swamp gonna get the boy
But he never came out
Well I wonder where the Louisiana sheriff went to
Well you can sure get lost in the Louisiana bayou
About forty-five minutes south of Tippitoe Louisiana
Lived a cat named Dr. Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah
They raised up a son who could eat his weight in groceries
Named him after a man of the cloth
Called him Amos Moses

I know son
Make it count son
About forty-five minutes south of Tippitoe Louisiana

Dell could do it for 100 !!

D'oh

[Rob Simpson]

The EEE is not fanless.

Serves me right for just skimming. Apparently that'll be the second generation in April 2008...maybe I'll wait and get that one instead.

If Steve Jobs ran the OLPC project...

[newscloud]

the price would be $249 ($399 if you want to be able to recharge it) and the thing would be 1" square.

Re:If Steve Jobs ran the OLPC project...

[Cafe Alpha]

Funny.

And changing the battery would require sending it back to Apple, in the hopes the wealthier children will always buy a new one when the battery wears out.

Re:If Steve Jobs ran the OLPC project...

[Joe The Dragon]

Steve Jobs wanted to give away mac osx for free with it's amd based cpu.

Re:If Steve Jobs ran the OLPC project...

[Anonymous Coward]

What's funny is that for double your flamebait price, you can get a real 6.5 x 6.5 x 2.0" computer which has a Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, CD+RW / DVD drive and 802.11g *AND* Mac OS X.

Who looks like a fool now?

Re:If Steve Jobs ran the OLPC project...

[Anonymous Coward]

What's funny is that for double your flamebait price, you can get a real 6.5 x 6.5 x 2.0" computer which has a Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, CD+RW / DVD drive and 802.11g *AND* Mac OS X.

No, for that price you get a nice paperweight until you add in the costs for a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Ditto for a battery.

Eh? Costs risen?

[Colin Smith]

So if your currency devalues. Have the costs really risen? Surely the costs are constant and the amount of value you have has fallen.

Re:Eh? Costs risen?

[thelexx]

"So if your currency devalues. Have the costs really risen?"

Without an accompanying rise in income, yes. The cost (labor/capital input) to you has risen, which is separate from the cost of manufacture under a different currency.

"Surely the costs are constant and the amount of value you have has fallen."

Yes, the cost (value to the manufacturer) to make the product under a more stable currency has remained (basically) constant and the value of the currency used to buy it (the value you have) has fallen.

Obligatory

[Tablizer]

$640.00 should be low enough for anybody.

Re:Obligatory

[Anonymous Coward]

Retail price is $639.99.

I don't see the problem

[LanceUppercut]

The dollar is turning into toilet paper much faster than the price of OLPC rises. Foreign governments should not have any problem with the rise of the price. Quite the opposite, it would be very strange if it remained steady.

Re:I don't see the problem

[polyex]

The dollar is turning into toilet paper? Apparently Slashot is full of financial know it alls too.

Idiot

[Anonymous Coward]

I like how you talk about things you know absolutely nothing about in such an arrogant fashion. I've had currency fluctuation on the price of just one part from China make a product with a target retail price of 1000JPY shoot up to 1500JPY. From prototype where we assumed we could get it out the door at 1000 with our estimations at the time to the few months later where we put it into production the currency had moved that much. In the case of the OLPC we're talking about a lot of parts from different countries and sources, and fluctuations on each part could easily shoot the price up.

Totally different purposes...

[msimm]

Whether the OLPC project turns out to be everything they'd hoped it would be the goals of these two machines are clearly different. One is rugged, with a hand (crank) charger. It's a bit of a geek novelty, but targeted at developing nations. Places without BestBuy's and Starbucks. The other is a inexpensive micro portable (or whatever their calling small laptops this week) which will be targeted, well, probably just about everywhere else. Maybe the OLPC should have focused on a more straight forward, low-cost portable device. But for better or worse they've designed a machine you can take out the middle of no where and use, apparently anyway.

Either way, are you sure the OLPC didn't simply compel other makers to compete? Which itself, assuming that providing technology the people who might now otherwise afford it, would be a round about way of achieving the projects goals.

Re:Totally different purposes...

[Anonymous Coward]

Minor correction: the "crank" charger was an idea from early prototypes. The current OLPC has no charger built-in, but comes with a plug-in charger that looks like a yo-yo. The crank put a lot of stress on the case of the OLPC, and if the charger died you would have to take apart the OLPC to replace it, plus the arm muscles of kids aren't ideal for cranking. The yo-yo can be powered by leg muscles and if it dies you just get another one and plug the new one in.

Re:Totally different purposes...

[msimm]

Thanks. That's an interesting example of the design concerns and difference that probably helped keep the project in development long then some people would have like (mainly those who wouldn't need such features).

Name change might be in order

[proverbialcow]

If they're going to keep straying from their original vision, they should at least have the decency to call it "No Laptop Left Behind."

Re:I'M OFFENDED BY THE PARENT POST

[yada21]

Parent might be meant as a troll, but there is an element of truth in what he says. See the book "Freakanomics".

Apple

[mosb1000]

Apple should release a $200 iPod touch with increased functionality and reduced specs for children in third world countries. It could easily compete with OLPC at that price.

Re:Apple

[gl4ss]

in many developing parts of the world the most connected, powerful computing device a person personally owns is their mobile phone.

even if it's just a crappy j2me,gprs, browser capable.

Re:Apple

[Danathar]

There are various reasons why it would not work.

I might add as well that the Ipod Touch is a music/video portable player, and NOT a PDA (No matter how many people wish it WAS a PDA)

Re:Apple

[Jeff DeMaagd]

iTouch is a nice platform with good future potential, but it's not designed to be used without a host computer to for syncing and backup. Most of the software would need to be modified.

Re:Apple

[Tsagadai]

Apple should release a $200 iPod touch with increased functionality and reduced specs for children in third world countries. It could easily compete with OLPC at that price.

I realise this is a joke but it sounds an awful lot like "let the eat cake".

Hedging?

[Anonymous Coward]

"The price differential is being blamed on raw materials costs and currency fluctuation."
In other words, the OLPC people were too lazy or too stupid to hedge their currency risk and exposure to input prices. Very clever indeed!

Re:Never blame the market for problems that are re

[martin-boundary]

The OLPC has 256 MB of ram, and 1GB of flash memory.

That's exactly my point. Who dreams up these sorts of specs? How about 256 flash and 32MB ram? That's plenty enough if you want a usable computer, just not a usable Microsoft or Apple system. There are plenty of microlinuxes that can be installed on those sorts of specs. They could easily cut out $50 that way. Instead, they blame the market for high prices on higher than necessary specs. Duh.

hardware specs would make the laptop any cheaper. It just costs a certain amount to money to put a laptop together, and there's no amount of spec and feature reduction that can change that.

Like I said, it depends on what you are shooting for. One of the nice things with older hardware is that the factories already have everything in place to produce it. When you buy modern hardware, you're caught up in the fact that manufacturers have to sink capital in newer processes and machinery every few years, and they have higher prices to recoup it. But the beauty of 5 year old hardware is that if you're on the edge where manufacturers are about to write off their older facilities anyway, you can get much better deals.

Initially OLPC had said that the market wouldn't produce an inexpensive laptop because the profits weren't there. It turns out that the market wasn't making them because it's not possible.

That's right. OLPC should lower the damn specs, forget about the Windows/OSX market, and redo their sums.

100 Lbs !

[gooman]

Isn't that kind of heavy for a laptop?

Oh wait... Never mind.

Re:100 Lbs !

[vuffi_raa]

it's a 6lb laptop with a 94lb heat sync for the 30 core processor in it

Re:Never blame the market for problems that are re

[mosb1000]

"How about 256 flash and 32MB ram"

How much do you think the 1GB flash and 256MB or ram are adding to the cost of this machine? I could buy them (not in bulk) for about $30. Do you honesty think it would be appreciably cheaper to use 256 and 32? It would cost a few dollars less at most (the cost of ram is not proportional to the amount purchased, as ram must be built in modules), and dramatically limit the functionality of the machine.

"One of the nice things with older hardware is that the factories already have everything in place to produce it."

No, in the case of 32MB ram chips, the factories are not set up to produce it at all, because no one uses it. They've all moved on the more modern, cost effective technologies. Moreover the majority of the cost here is coming from the actual cost of assembling the machine. The ram and flash memory are inexpensive.

Just...

[mhannibal]

...sell it by the kilogram...

Progress, You Insensitive Clod!

[rts008]

But then you would be denying them access to FREE V1@gRA! *just click here*, and Nigerian emails, and UK lottery winnings!

How will they catch up to the rest of us without this?..Think of the Children!?!?!

It's not about price (only)..

[erikjan]

The price of the OLPC laptop is becoming a recurring subject. I think the price of the laptops is important, but not the most important story to tell. The OLPC laptop has already revolutionized the design of the laptop. On the hardware side we have the extreme power efficiency, the high resolution screen, the cranking mechanism, and last but not least the ergonomic, rugged design. On the software side there is the open firmware, the mesh network, the new user interface, Bitfrost, and probably a few other things I forgot. And all of this is made possible by open source software. The OLPC laptop has set a new standard, and none of the so called competitors from Intel, or other manufacturers comes even close. The competing machines are just cheap standard laptops, with none of the qualities that make the OLPC laptop special. Whatever the price of the laptop, and even if the whole project ultimately fails, the design of the OLPC laptop will have an enormous impact on the future of the PC. And because it is all open souce we can build on its foundations. All of that is much more important than todays price of the hardware.

Re:It's not about price (only)..

[gregorio]

The OLPC laptop has already revolutionized the design of the laptop. On the hardware side we have the extreme power efficiency, the high resolution screen, the cranking mechanism, and last but not least the ergonomic, rugged design.

Oh, geez, cut it. It's just an average motherbord with standard components. People build more advanced machines in the embedded market, every single day.

There is no revolution. It's just another piece of hardware.

Re:It's not about price (only)..

[Chandon Seldon]

People build more advanced machines in the embedded market, every single day.

Oh really?

What other device is a wireless node and acts like a wireless mesh router even when powered off?

What other device has a 1200x900 screen that takes well under a watt?

Sure, it's not a huge leap ahead of other, similar devices - but the XO is definitely pushing the boundries of mobile computer design.

Re:It's not about price (only)..

[gregorio]

Oh really?

YA RLY.

What other device is a wireless node and acts like a wireless mesh router even when powered off?

So what? It's not like OLPC invented mesh networking, and it's not actually an interesting feature for most applications. But yes, most wireless ZIGBEE networks are mesh-based. So no, OLPC is not "revolutionary".

What other device has a 1200x900 screen that takes well under a watt?

What about the DVD players that the OLPC borrowed the LCD from? The OLPC's "high-resolution" LCD is just an average mobile DVD screen with the individual colors being used as separate pixels.

Sure, it's not a huge leap ahead of other, similar devices - but the XO is definitely pushing the boundries of mobile computer design.

No, it's not pushing anything at all. It's just an ordinary design, made by a very small team (compared to other companies in the market) and using ordinary components. Even some Geode ref board beat OLPC at being "revolutionary".

Just because OLPC is connected to Open Source, a lot of fanboys actually believe it's a shiny new revolutionary device. In fact, it's just an expensive LCD terminal.

Re:It's not about price (only)..

[grcumb]

There is no revolution. It's just another piece of hardware.

So why, then, does everyone who sees the prototype I've been demo-ing walk away with stars in their eyes?

I've been working in ICT for over 15 years, and I've spent years in some of the most remote areas in the world, trying to extend the reach of the Internet in a way that's useful to the people who live there. Let me tell you that in all that time, I have never encountered anything quite so well-designed for its task as the XO laptop.

I've been evaluating a B2 prototype to determine its suitability to the task of being deployed in a Least Developed Country in the South Pacific region. I can say without hesitation that there is no competing technological device that even comes close. The fact that Negroponte and co. managed to do it cheaper than anyone else, using commodity parts, should be offered as the highest praise, not castigation.

Re:It's not about price (only)..

[gregorio]

So why, then, does everyone who sees the prototype I've been demo-ing walk away with stars in their eyes?

That has GOT to be the WORST argument I've even seen in my entire life.

Why? Mostly because it's an open-source geek's dream to see a machine that is fully connected with open source to be manufactured and promoted. It's also because most people are not in the electronics market, and even people who work in the area really DO like seeing a densely populated board.

But hey, if "everyone you see" has stars in their eyes, then I guess it's a freaking revolutionary device, certainly destined to save the planet.

I've been working in ICT for over 15 years, and I've spent years in some of the most remote areas in the world, trying to extend the reach of the Internet in a way that's useful to the people who live there. Let me tell you that in all that time, I have never encountered anything quite so well-designed for its task as the XO laptop.

You just disqualified yourself as someone able to perform a rational discussion about this. You devoted your life to "the most remote areas in the world" and you're happy because there's a new toy in the block, to help you with your ideologically-motivated occupation.

I've been evaluating a B2 prototype to determine its suitability to the task of being deployed in a Least Developed Country in the South Pacific region. I can say without hesitation that there is no competing technological device that even comes close.

Ok, it's useful for its task and it's a good competitor if you compare it to others in the same market. That still doesn't mean that its hardware is revolutionary.

It is still just an ordinary piece of hardware. The fact that it is related to poor kids doesn't change it.

The fact that Negroponte and co. managed to do it cheaper than anyone else, using commodity parts, should be offered as the highest praise, not castigation.

The fact that Negroponte did anything at all doesn't excuse fanboys from old, plain lying. He can cure world hunger with this little device yet that won't change the fact that it's just ordinary hardware. If you want to praise something, praise the idea, the application, the logistics. But don't lie, it's a very important step.

prince increase

[salparadyse]

oop$

Idiot...

[Anonymous Coward]

And the girl, of course, had no say whatsoever as to whether she got screwed, right? *rolls my eyes*

Remember, you can be in the MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING ACT, and if she says stop, you can be charged with rape if you don't pull out immediately. Need any other evidence to see the game is stacked in favor of women?

Re:Idiot...

[Anonymous Coward]

The point is that they are BOTH responsible. The GGP stated that if the guy wanted an abortion and the girl said no, that he shouldn't be responsible. My point is that yes, he is responsible. I said nothing of the girl not being responsible.

Vaguely Similar

[gafisher]

a pretty pedestrian sublaptop, that has its analog for the same price with the good ol' commercial vendors.

The Asus looks like a pretty decent cheap laptop, but that doesn't make it an analog of the XO by a LONG shot. Where's the touch screen on the Asus? The power-saving dual-mode display? The long-range mesh networking? The impact/dust/moisture-resistance? The UI and built-in apps designed from the ground up for kids who never saw a light bulb, much less an XBox (or a traffic light or an actual desktop) and in dozens of languages?

That's not to denegrate the Asus, which looks like a great choice where price is the only factor, but the OLPC/XO is more focused on value.

Besides, do we really want to make all those third-world kids use Windows? Have we no mercy?

Yeah, 6 months.

[crhylove]

Or give it a year or so when fully functional computers can be had in an iphone factor and cost less than $70. I mean, it's at least possible.

Re:Never blame the market for problems that are re

[amorsen]

No, in the case of 32MB ram chips, the factories are not set up to produce it at all, because no one uses it.

Apart from, say, all the Linksys equipment. And modern cell phones...

Palm Zire 22 already cost U$S:99 on retail!

[maitas]

Ok, so if you ask Palm to sell without intermediates on one millon bulk, directly to goverments, Im prety sure they can get it down to sub U$S:50 for the Palm Zire 22. It already have some networking capabilities with IR, but with the remaining U$S:50 you can also add some 802.11b networking.

Im not afiliate to Palm by any means, it is just that I hate when people reinvent the wheel... I just see this all OLPC circus so unfair to currently existing technologies...

  I really would prefer Negropontes team to develop the educational software as small as posible on JAVA so you can install it wherever you like (Palm, OLPC, Asus, etc.)

Re:Palm Zire 22 already cost U$S:99 on retail!

[Anonymous Coward]

They are (sorta) - all the userspace tools, utilities and applications on the OLPC are written in Python and quite honestly in my experience I've had better luck with cross-platform Python than Java...

Re:Palm Zire 22 already cost U$S:99 on retail!

[jsight]

They are (sorta) - all the userspace tools, utilities and applications on the OLPC are written in Python and quite honestly in my experience I've had better luck with cross-platform Python than Java...

If that was desktop code that you are talking about, it would have to be some awful Java code to be less portable than Python.

Of course, I have seen some awful java code... sigh.

Isn't this typically of the computer industry?

[3seas]

To promote something at a given price range and then have development over runs and resulting higher costs?

Its like a bait and switch program or methodology.
What I don't get is why play this game at all?

Who is really fooling who here?

Haven't the computer industry experts figured out realistic cost estimating yet? Other industries have!!

In a short period of time the price of computer hardware goes down.
Will the concept of a laptop ever reach the $100 dollar price? Absolutely!!!

What does the cost overruns, over the promoted price, do for the reputation of these experts?

Who is fooling who?

The experts are fooling themselves!!! They are not experts at all!!!

When it becomes genuinely reasonable for laptops to be sold for $100 and Sub-$100, then they will be and by numerous parties that together support fair competition.

This OLPC has already gotten some negative competitor bashing oriented in the style of political bashing.

Don't those involved know it only a matter of time before selling laptops around $100 is no big deal. Actually I suspect a comparative to a laptop usability product will replace it and have more appeal.

Frigging cell phones.......

Re:Isn't this typically of the computer industry?

[jbengt]

"Haven't the computer industry experts figured out realistic cost estimating yet? Other industries have!!"

If an company has been manufacturing pretty much the same thing for years in a mature industry, maybe they've figured out realistic cost estimating.
However, I work in the construction industry, and I can guarantee you that they haven't figured out realistic cost estimating yet.

Re:Isn't this typically of the computer industry?

[marcosdumay]

"Haven't the computer industry experts figured out realistic cost estimating yet? Other industries have!!"

So, please, point me those industries that can forsee currency fluctuations several years on the future.

Those laptops are nominaly costing just a bit more than the 2002 US$100 target (10% more here at Brazil). That is, unless you buy it on dollars.

Two words...

[Anonymous Coward]

"ASUS plans to use the Eee PC to give people of all ages and from all corners of the globe access to their very own computer. The Eee PC will be a great first computer for people that have never been able to afford their own before"

Timex Sinclair

Reference: "http://oldcomputers.net/ts1000.html"

Timex Sinclair 1000
Introduced: July 1982
Price: US $99.95

Re:Two words...

[Anonymous Coward]

The Sinclair was useless for anyone who couldn't also afford a TV set and electrical utility service, and its storage was so limited it wasn't really useful for the people who could.

I will still buy it

[the_brobdingnagian]

Of course this is bad news. And I don't know how most countries are going to react to this. But I still plan to buy the OLPC for myself. It's a completely open platform, a portable and rugged design and I will support a good cause when I buy it.

what is the REAL price?

[boomka]

Let's be economically realistic here. If you look at the OLPC progress timescale here:
http://laptop.org/en/vision/progress/index.shtml
You will notice that the price tag of 100$ per laptop initiates back in the end of 2004.

Now, I hope all of you here have heard about an economic phenomenon called inflation - the process where governments inflate money supply making your dollars buy less. Very few know that for the past decade or so the government has been massaging the official inflation numbers to make them appear lower - this allows them to make fewer and fewer payments on inflation adjusted liabilities such as social security. However, they still publish all the numbers one needs to calculate the actual inflation, and some people have been doing that, look for example here:
http://www.shadowstats.com/cgi-bin/sgs/data
Notice how inflation has been running steadily at about 10% for the last few years. Today, the engineers who drafted the 100$ plan in the end of 2004 / beginning of 2005, should expect the cost to be 100*1.1*1.1*1.1 or roughly 135 dollars.
That already would take a lot of sensationalism out of the story. However, let's not stop here. Remember, the real culprit behind inflation is the money supply, and consumer inflation is usually the latest to price rising party. The money supply (as you may have noticed from previous link) has been running at 14% annually, causing serious mischief in prices of things like energy (http://www.investmenttools.com/futures/energy/index.htm) or metals (http://www.investmenttools.com/futures/metals/welcome_to_the_page_about_copper_futures.htm) - both are important for making technology.
Just for the sake of an example, let's trivialize the problem a little, and say that to make a laptop you need to spend 60% of your budget on metals, and 40% on energy (it's wrong, but I am just making an example). What would you expect to happen to the price of such laptop according the charts I linked to? Well, it would go up from 100$ to slightly over 200$.

So what is the real story here, engineers screwing up their designs, or governments inflating away the buying power of the dollar making the same thing cost twice more over 3 years?
Look at my links, do your research, decide for yourself.

Well which _is_ it?

[smchris]

The price differential is being blamed on raw materials costs and currency fluctuation.

If it is mostly raw materials, I suppose there is only so much a person can do. If it is currency fluctuation, maybe they should price it, and should have priced it to begin with, in euros. Everyone knows the dollar has been sinking for years.

Re:Well which _is_ it?

[Zephyr14z]

Note the word "and" used in "on raw materials cost and currency fluctuation." Typically, this means that it is a combination of the two.

For example, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich contains both peanut butter, as well as jelly.

Manual charging system may be vapor too

[Dr. Spork]

Are you sure the hand charger is standard with the OLPC? CNN mentioned something about a pull string, but the OLPC website says this cryptic thing:

True, early prototypes included a hand crank, but it was removed in subsequent versions. The actual shipping units will use an off-board human-power system, connected to the power brick. Candidates include a foot-pedal charger similar to the Freecharge portable charger, solar panels, a crank, and a pulley system.

This leaves the impression that they haven't even worked out what this manual charging method will be, and might be leaving it for future editions of the OLPC. If this is wrong, can someone post a link that shows the manual charging system?

Re:Manual charging system may be vapor too

[Anonymous Coward]

This leaves the impression that they haven't even worked out what this manual charging method will be, and might be leaving it for future editions of the OLPC. If this is wrong, can someone post a link that shows the manual charging system?

http://potenco.com/

Perspective

[Kelsin5]

This has been known for a while. Their plan is to release it now cause they finally decided to go with features rather than cost. It still has a hard drive cranks for when power is unavailable. It has a bunch of design goals that are NOT the same as other cheap laptops. It's meant to be rugged, water resistant, wireless that can span miles to provide (very slow) internet in places that wouldn't otherwise support it.

They already have a bunch of orders for other countries that are buying millions. Their plan is to let the price drop now that hardware is set in stone.

Just have to remember that you're getting a much different machine when buying one of these then buying a 300 dollar computer with monitor.

God bless these children!

[Anonymous Coward]

Day 1

Mommy, I am only 8 inches long, but I have all my organs. I love the sound of your voice. Every time I hear it, I wave my arms and legs. The sound of your heart beat is my favorite lullaby.

Day 2

Mommy, today I learned how to suck my thumb. If you could see me, you could definitely tell that I am a baby. I'm not big enough to survive outside my home though. It is so nice and warm in here.

Day 3

You know what Mommy, I'm a girl!! I hope that makes you happy. I always want you to be happy. I don't like it when you cry. You sound so sad. It makes me sad too, and I cry with you even though you can't hear me.

Day 4

Mommy, my hair is starting to grow. It is very short and fine, but I will have a lot of it. I spend a lot of my time exercising. I can turn my head and curl my fingers and toes, and stretch my arms and legs. I am becoming quite good at it too.

Day 5

You went to the doctor today. Mommy, he lied to you. He said that I'm not a baby. I am a baby Mommy, your baby. I think and feel. Mommy, what's abortion?

Day 6

I can hear that doctor again. I don't like him. He seems cold and heartless. Something is intruding my home. The doctor called it a needle. Mommy what is it? It burns! Please make him stop! I can't get away from it! Mommy!! HELP me!! No . . .

Day 7

Mommy, I am okay. I am in Jesus's arms. he is holding me. He told me about abortion. Why didn't you want me Mommy?

One more heart that was stopped. Two more eyes that will never see. Two more hands that will never touch. Two more legs that will never run. One more mouth that will never speak.

REPOST THIS IF YOU HATE ABORTION

Re:God bless these children!

[bizzarefall]

How does this apply to the subject at hand? A fetus can't use a laptop, no matter how cheap. Find another thread.

Here come the open source apologists

[Anonymous Coward]

If a for-profit company (say, for example, Microsoft) did something like this people here would be apoplectic. This utter incompetence is the sort of thing uyou only get to see when the people running the show are spending someone else's money. But I'm sure all the corporation-haters here will be full of excuses and understanding, since these guys are academics and therefore free of the taint of profit.

Interoperability = good

[Moderatbastard]

This leaves the impression that they haven't even worked out what this manual charging method will be, and might be leaving it for future editions of the OLPC.

If they standardise the power connector (hopefully one that's simple and in common use already) at this stage then the power supply can be retrofitted after. You could have a choice among external units (hand crank, foot treadle, bike dynamo, conventional transformer/rectifier) or people could even invent their own according to local needs & conditions.

That sounds like good design practice to me.

Re:Never blame the market for problems that are re

[mosb1000]

Those are all made using modern manufacturing processes. Like I said, it's not appreciably cheaper than what is in the "$100" laptop right now. It simply wouldn't make sense to sell it for $175 instead of $185, but give up most of it's functionality (7/8 of the ram, 3/4 of the flash memory). $175 is still nowhere near the $100 target. That tradeoff is worth it to make a $20 cell phone rather than a $30 one, especially given how much less useful extra ram and flash memory are in cellphones.

$200 Laptop vs OLPC @$188

[theunixman]

The OLPC project actually demonstrates what an organization not making maximizing their profit their main focus can accomplish. While the Eee PC is impressive for a laptop that inexpensive, it doesn't compare at all to the OLPC. Of course, the reverse is also true.

The ASUS Eee PC is a general purpose laptop designed to run standard consumer software and handle normal consumer tasks. It will run in a coffee shop, an office, a car, and will work well with a standard First World internet connection. And it's really cheap. It's nice. I'd like a few to play with.

The OLPC system has a custom operating system with support for ad-hoc networking, a display that works indoors in color (back-lit) and outdoors in black-and-white (not back-lit). It has a ruggedized case, and a hand crank so you don't need a centralized power grid to recharge periodically. The organization did many usability studies to design the hardware and the software together so it would be easier for children of any background to learn.

So, while building a $200 laptop isn't difficult, building one that can operate in conditions more adverse than the typical coffee shop with a custom operating system that takes advantage of things like the display and lighting conditions with a dynamic range far larger than even the highest contrast ratio LCD and a full ad-hoc wireless mesh networking stack for under $200 is actually impressive.

Re:$200 Laptop vs OLPC @$188

[Cafe Alpha]

The OLPC is what it is because MIT spent (wasted) years developing new technology for it.

The most important aspect, in my mind, is the screen backlight, because usual tubes wear out fairly quickly and have to be replaced.

But they could have been to market years ago if they had stayed with off the shelf, or nearly off the shelf products.

The prism color is a perfect example of over-designing. They probably doubled to tripled the brightness/watt, but so what? Is that worth a three year wait? Also, knowing something about the eye, I'll wager that brightness comes a price in picture quality - you can't get saturated colors with wide spectrum filters, and that's what you get when you go for efficiency.

Also it will be useful that it's very very very low power - in some remote villages that don't have electricity.

But in 1/2 or 2/3 of the places they're sending these, power isn't a problem.

They could have gotten some laptops out the door with existing technology years ago and blanketed the half of their market that has electricity available.

Re:$200 Laptop vs OLPC @$188

[Cafe Alpha]

Also the problem with backlights wearing out could have been dealt with by simply making the backlight replaceable. That could have been done with off the shelf tech, instantly, years ago. Ship out laptops and an equal number of replacement backlights. That would cost an extra $7 or something. Hell they could have put a backup directly in the screen. When backlight 1 goes out, it switches to backlight 2.

Or they could have specified higher quality backlights. If the backlights are better sealed they won't leak air and won't wear out.

Everytime I see something about the OLPC...

[AmazingRuss]

...I am reminded of something I heard on Bob and Tom in response to a story about shipping used PCs to Africa.

"I'm picturing a computer with flies all over it."

I think the hundred bucks could be used a lot more effectively on infrastructure, hospitals and contraception.

Re:Everytime I see something about the OLPC...

[Anonymous Coward]

This INCLUDES access to an incredibly rich FREE (and continually EXPANDING and continually IMPROVING) software library (i.e. linux software).

So, how much are they going to pay if you need M$ Office? And Photoshop? And let's not even get started on antivirus, antimalware, antispyware software and other problems/expenses, etc. And god knows what else?

It will CONTINUE to be a bargain as FOSS continues to flourish, grow, improve, etc.

And kids can LEARN about PREVENTITIVE measures to improve their health, crops, animals, etc. using the internet so that perhaps they'll be able to AVOID the necessity of going to a hospital in the first place, etc.

M$ cannot compete against this. In fact, their goal is to monetize all information and restrict knowledge from those who can't pay, etc.

OLPC should be supported by all moral, ethical people who do care about their fellow children.

Re:Everytime I see something about the OLPC...

[jim_deane]

I believe the thought is that the previous attempts to provide infrastructure, hospitals and contraception have done little to impact the overall situation in Africa.

This attempt attempts to provide access to education and communication, with the thought that a better educated populace that has access to communication and technology would be able to improve their own quality of life.

Kind of like the "give a man a fish/teach a man to fish" adage. Plus, giving a community contraception and hospitals are really consumables. Education, once given, can't be taken away.

Re:Everytime I see something about the OLPC...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who builds the infrastructure? Who staffs the hospitals? And who uses contraception if they don't understand the risks? Education is one of the most fundamental ways to break the cycle of poverty. While handouts are a nice feel good measure because they help the people you see suffering now they don't tend to do so much for the people twenty years from now. So then you ask yourself would I rather put money towards a short term or long term solution? I think there is room, and need, for both.

Re:Everytime I see something about the OLPC...

[Russ Nelson]

You use Bob and Tom to decide your plotical opinions??!!?? Wow, you're dumber than you look!

Re:Everytime I see something about the OLPC...

[AmazingRuss]

What's political? The statement merely points out how dumb it is to blow money on electronics when you don't have enough to eat.

Re:Everytime I see something about the OLPC...

[Russ Nelson]

So ... you think that poor people should be uneducated simply because they don't have enough to eat? Sounds like a political statement to me.

Back in reality, the governments that are considering the OLPC are already spending money on their kids' education. If you amortize the cost of the OLPC over its lifetime, and you can license electronic books for 1/10th the cost of print books, then the government spends the same amount of money licensing electronics books and buying OLPC as they do on print books. The OLPC is FREE. It costs NOTHING.

Still an incredible bargain at $188...

[Anonymous Coward]

This INCLUDES access to an incredibly rich FREE software library (i.e. linux software).

So, how much are they going to pay if you need M$ Office? And Photoshop? And god knows what else?

It will CONTINUE to be a bargain as FOSS continues to flourish, grow, improve, etc.

M$ cannot compete against this.

Well, it's not all bad...

[Anonymous Coward]

It still costs less than a normal laptop, and they'd still be able to spread technology to impoverished nations. I still think that's a success.

Re:Never blame the market for problems that are re

[dubl-u]

The truth is that OLPC was largely unaware of the difficulties this kind of project would face. OLPC set an unreasonable goal for the price, and now they're coming to terms with the reality of the situation. Initially OLPC had said that the market wouldn't produce an inexpensive laptop because the profits weren't there. It turns out that the market wasn't making them because it's not possible.

Evidence?

In the earliest OLPC speeches I heard, the $100 was always a goal, and they didn't expect to hit it with their first systems. They expect to get there over time.

And as you can see elsewhere in the thread, ASUS's upcoming Eee seems to be exactly the kind of inexpensive laptop that you claim is impossible. The point wasn't to hit some magic $100 goal; the point was to make a radically cheaper laptop build for the needs of third-world students rather than western consumers.

So you're saying...

[AmazingRuss]

...that Microsoft is responsible for burgeoning maggot populations in central Africa? The BASTARDS!

Poland! Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[Anonymous Coward]

And Poland! What about Poland?!

Re:Poland! Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he forgot about Poland.

Re:Poland! Re:Currency "fluctuation"

[Xolotl]

Heh, yeah, I get the meme. :)

Seriously, though, in this case I didn't forget: Poland has a euroskeptic (or perhaps europhobic) government at the moment and keeps putting off Euro adoption. At the moment it's expected in 2012.

$188 is still good.

[Xerxes_au]

Overall not really that expensive, but what is a computer without information (i.e. access to the Internet)?

As important as the cheap computer is, the target market will still need affordable Internet access.

Are any plans being made to toward this ?

(BTW, I realise this is a bit of a chicken/egg problem, however the laptop is obviously the egg here)

Re:$188 is still good.

[MrCopilot]

Overall not really that expensive, but what is a computer without information (i.e. access to the Internet)?
As important as the cheap computer is, the target market will still need affordable Internet access.
Are any plans being made to toward this ?

The laptops operate as a mesh network. Every laptop extends the network to the next.

(BTW, I realise this is a bit of a chicken/egg problem, however the laptop is obviously the egg here)

In this case, the XO is the chicken and the egg.

Dollar is worth a lot less now

[Jeff1946]

Remember that the dollar has declined about 25% in relation to the euro and many other currencies so $188 is more like $140.

do not overlook the importance of power usage

[j1m 5n0w]

According to wikipedia, the Eee will use 11 watts in the first generation, and 7 in the second generation:

ASUS plans to introduce second-generation Eee PCs in April 2008 which are meant to feature Intel's Merom processors. The power consumption of the next-generation notebooks will reduce to 7W TDP, down from 11W TDP, and the removal of the fan to save more power and reduce noise.

On the other hand, OLPC uses 2 watts during normal use, and .3 - .8 watts in E-book reader mode:

The laptop will consume about 2 W of power during normal use, far less than the 10 to 45 W of conventional laptops.[2]

In e-book mode, all hardware sub-systems are powered down except the monochrome display. When the user moves to a different page the system wakes up, draws the new page on the display and then goes back to sleep. Power consumption in e-book mode is estimated to be 0.3 to 0.8 W.

Power usage is very important in off-grid settings. The designers of the OLPC wanted something that would run a whole school day without needing to be plugged in, and that can (iirc) run for ten minutes for every one minute spent pulling the cord on the hand charger. It also lets them use lower-density batteries (like lithium iron phosphate) that are less toxic and don't need to be recycled.

Re:God bless these children

[Anonymous Coward]

Appeals to emotion don't earn you any respect in my book. I'm a cold-hearted bastard, because the truth about this world is that's what it takes to survive.

100 or 188 is still cheap for a laptop

[alexfromspace]

And I am still getting one for each of my cousins who are or will be soon in elementary school.

Just rename the product

[CrimsonScythe]

Nah, they'll just use the FUBU ("For Us By Us") naming and call it "For Kids By Kids".

Dumbest idea in, well, a long time, really dumb

[dhiraz]

I can't believe that people are debating how much the stupid computer will cost. THis is the dumbest idea I think I have ever heard. Why not just give them $100, then they could maybe buy some food or clean water. If you have ever been to any of these "third world" countries, you would realize that the biggest problem isn't that the kids can't log onto the internet or play video games on a $100 notebook, it's more like, where's my next meal, how do I fight malaria, how do I get potable clean water. Why not invest the money from this in a clean water system for all of Africa. This would probably save millions of lives.

Plus, when these things break, who is going to haul away millions of dead computers. They will be piled up on the side of the road all over the place. And, I believe that most computers contain various environmentally hazardous materials. So, $100 computers for everyone, then $200 per person to send people out in 2 years to clean up all the debris.

Re:Dumbest idea in, well, a long time, really dumb

[jay-be-em]

I taught in a West African country for 2 years. I taught students who, while extremely poor by Western standards, were not in the position where their biggest worry was where their next meal or water was coming from, it was how they were going to get the money to pay their school fees, and largely how they were going to afford books (most of them didn't). The fact is, even in a '3rd world' country books for secondary school are expensive, enough that a $188 computer would save money over buying all the necessary books for a complete education (using the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination, WASSCE, as a baseline here). I posted on this before:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=192275&cid=15789819

The whole 3rd world isn't what you see on Christian Children's Fund commercials. There are a huge number of extremely poor people who do eat (often from the family farm) and have shelter, but need to take the next step of getting a proper education to help benefit their country.

I do, however agree on your environmental point. There needs to be a plan for what to do with these machines in the long run.

Re:Dumbest idea in, well, a long time, really dumb

[dhiraz]

Yes, I agree with you about the next meal thing, it was an exagerration to make a point. I have traveled throughout Africa and I live in Panama, which many consider to be a third world country. I don't think buying computers for all the children here in this part of Panama would help their education. A great many of the people here don't have electricity in their homes, let alone clean water.

I think spending this money on clean water systems would save lives and spending it on education for the third world would help their countries as a whole. Dumping millions of dollars on computers seems more like a way to dump money into the pockets of the companies making chips and computer parts.

I know if they did that here, most would end up broken or unused. A few would end up in the hands of kids that would use them and make use of them, all the others would end up being thrown out in the yard, or in the ocean where people dump all their other trash.

just call it the 100 euro laptop

[Anonymous Coward]

because pretty soon that will equal $188

At the current exchange rate...

[Rui del-Negro]

At the current exchange rate, 188 dollars is what, 3 euro cents?

I know what comes after that

[Anonymous Coward]

Day 8 - ???

Day 9 - PROFIT!

Bizarro maths there...

[Rui del-Negro]

Whaaa...? Does that make any sense to you?

If 1 dollar = 1 euro, and the materials are priced in euros (at, say, 80 euros total), then the american assembler would have to pay 80 dollars, add the cost of assembly (say, 20 dollars), and then sell the laptop for 100 dollars (which is equal to 100 euros).

Now, if 1.4 dollars = 1 euro and the materials cost the same 80 euros, then the american assembler will have to pay 112 dollars, add the cost of assembly (20 dollars) and sell the laptop for 132 dollars. It might seem like more money inside the USA, but, at an exchange rate of 10:14, 132 dollars is actually just over 94 euros. In other words, the laptop just got cheaper in global terms (although it's now a "132 dollar laptop" instead of a "100 dollar laptop").

In other words, if the laptops are assembled in the USA (which I doubt), the low dollar would only make them cheaper, not more expensive. The only place where they might end up more expensive is in countries whose currencies are pegged to the dollar (which means China and one or two african countries).

But since China is going to make a knock-off OLPC anyway (for $9.99, including lead paint), and African countries are going go get theirs through some corrupt foreign aid program, it won't make any difference.

Wrong order

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I'm afraid the dollar is now (and has been, for the past 4 years or so), the "second largest currency". Eurozone has been the biggest economy in the world since late 2003. And a lot of asian countries, etc., are starting to use the euro as their reference currency, too.

In the name of everyone in Europe, I'd like to thank president W. for bringing the dollar down from 1.2 euros to 0.72 euro cents during his

Is that a new kind of tape?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it made from actual ducks?

Warning the following is not P.C.

[jackspenn]

I am posting this laptop on a $175 Thinkpad T22 I purchased on ebay for $175 with a Cisco 350 wireless card I found dumpster diving. Specs: 512 MB Ram 900 MHz PIII 20 GB HD 10/100 NIC Wireless B Cisco card Fedora Core 5 CDRW/DVD ROM 4x Batteries 3x power supplies 2x port replicators So I guess my though process is something like this: 1). Couldn't we give poor kids decent sub $100 laptops by just donating some of the stuff we otherwise would toss out? 2). Wouldn't poor kids be better off with say antibotics and basic medicine rather than a laptop? I mean seems like if I were a teenager in africa, condoms and AIDS education could do a lot more to improve my quality of life going forward to than say a laptop. 3). Why are we working to design a cheap laptop? Why not think outside the box? Build a server farm in Africa and create some local jobs to keep it up and running, then provide really really cheap mobile thin clients? Basically boots up loads X and calls back to terminal server farm for X-Apps made out of all the laptops Europeans and Americans have gotten bored with? Provide networking hubs where Internet and wireless are given free at schools or key town meeting places so that they grow both techinical skills, but comminuty friendships. 4). We have elivated standards that others many be fine without. Example I had an old P100 64MB Latitude that I gave to a mexican cook I met and who had no computer. Thing was slow as poop, I could not stand it and that was years ago, he loves it to this day and uses it to browse the net over dialup. 5). These articles on /. have got to stop, as OLPC is nothing special and when really thought about is pretty stupid.

Re:Warning the following is not P.C.

[Anonymous Coward]

What you propose would be great, except:

- There are already charities that ship old computers to third-world countries. Anyone who is likely to be doing this is already doing it. And this would be fine if your only goal was to increase the number of computers in a country. But if your goal is to set up a decent learning environment, you'd find your efforts hampered by old/damaged/incompatible hardware, poor networking/power infrastructure, lack of maintenance training, lack of educational software/curriculums, etc. The OLPC program is designed to address all of these concerns.

- It would be hard to come up with a mobile X server that is significantly cheaper than the OLPC XO, which is already an extremely low-powered device.

- OLPC is not a charity -- at least, not in the typical sense. People ask "why are we giving away laptops when we could give away ___?" But there is no "we" giving away laptops; the countries are buying them. "We" are in no position to tell them how they must spend their educational funds. And since the laptops are sold at cost, what is really happening is that the OLPC is giving away knowledge of how to build cheap laptops and how to organize them into an educational system. This knowledge is not exchangeable for medicine or food, although it may help with that AIDS-education thing.

You have no idea what you are talking about

[Russ Nelson]

You have no idea what you are talking about. The olpc has many advances over 'ordinary' laptops. The magic screen which does not wash out in the screen, the extremely low power use, the wifi which keeps working even when the computer is off, the diversity wifi antennas which are in free space: all evidence that you have no clue.

OLPC has already made a difference!

[Anonymous Coward]

OLPC is trying to do something monumental, which will start (continue?) an economic revolution if it works. But short of that, in my opinion it has already done a lot for technology in general. For example its displays: how long will it be until competitors begin using its dual-mode display technology to provide ultra-cheap, ultra-low-power laptop screens? OLPC has already made its mark, even if it fails in meeting its radical $100 goal in the end.

Re:CNN FUD is Newsworthy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, Bill Gates hates children so much that he and his wife created a charity that helps children. Oh wait.....

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_and_Melinda_Gates_Foundation

Yes, Bill Gates Hates Your Children.

[Anonymous Coward]

That thing is nothing more than a tax scam and is mostly more Bill Gates business. They have bought independent newspapers critical M$, and most of the money comes with strings attached that benefit M$. A typical school built with foundation money is really built with mostly local tax money (90%), but M$ gets to call all the shots. That's a subversion of democratic control of public education designed to pour money into target businesses - Bill Gates has his sights on the entire school supply chain. The medical effort is even more disturbing because he's using it as a springboard to push his anti-social "IP" notions further into medicine. Patents that keep poor nations from making their own medicines kill more people than all $33 billion of Mr. Gates's so called charity could ever help. Nothing could be worse for global health then for medicine to be subsumed by the "sharp business practices" M$ has pioneered.

Re:Yes, Bill Gates Hates Your Children.

[Anonymous Coward]

Until you show proof, you admit that you're lying.

And "proof" does not mean "link to a previous Slashdot post".

A lower dollar is better, actually.

[Plekto]

If you consider that the dollar is dropping in value, it actually is a better deal for the end consumer.

- Most of the parts are outsourced from China and wherever, which are so silly low cost to produce that the dollar would have to drop to 1/5th what it is now to actually cause a real problem.

- Since we still get the components for a decent price, the lower dollar actually helps the countries and people who want to buy one outside of the U.S. to afford them easier. ie - a year ago, 100 UK pounds was about $150USD. Now it's about $200USD. So while the price appears to have gone up, it's still comparable to $140-$150 a year ago. Only the U.S. customers get hurt by our current currency woes. If our value drops 25-30% more, it will soon cost $200 for the laptop, but with double the purchasing power versus the dollar, they just might make the original target price-point.

I Think and other companies must do the same

[Laptoprev]

my opinion is and the other major companies must create cheap laptops or laptops with out any cost about the childrens The admin of Laptoprev