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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?"
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.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I hope they fail, all it will accomplish is more nigerian scam e-mails.
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!
I do realize that the original price was never intended to be $100, as referenced by the parent and noted in this article: "We have a target of $100 by 2008, but probably it will be $135, maybe $140." Currency "fluctuation", a.k.a. inflation, may raise this by $5 tops. Currency is not to blame for the constant increase of the price
It's really hard to walk this fine line of balance. More functionality for fewer schools, or less functionality for more schools? I personally would have preferred the latter, and I would have been okay with the former if they had stuck to it, but driving up hype and then making conscious decisions to fail to live up to the hype is going to cause them to blow the whole thing. You're dropping the ball, guys. Shape up.
"REDNECK AMERICAN DUMB_ASS"
*sigh* no mod points when you need them.
Do you have any idea how ignorant and arrogant you look to ANYONE that understands US finance? Reads the paper? Lives outside the US? These are dollars, remember, the curreny of a country run into the dirt.
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).
But the currect case is because the US has worse inflation than well, pretty much everywhere except Zimbabwey it seems.
I will have a sig when the market demands it.