Slashdot Mirror
India's $35 Tablet Computer
NotBornYesterday was one of many readers sending in news that the Indian government has announced it is helping to develop a $35 tablet computer running Linux. "India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011. The government plans to subsidize the tablets so the cost to students could be $20; and eventually, they hope the cost will fall to $10 per unit. India's human resource development minister, Kapil Sibal, says, 'The motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of them cumulatively cost around $35, including memory, display, everything.' Using a memory card instead of a hard drive, and running a Linux OS, the designers have managed to keep the price low, and are now looking for manufacturing partners. The tablet can be used for functions like word processing, Web browsing, and video conferencing. It has a solar power option too, which is important in India's less developed areas, though that add-on costs extra."
If this thing truly costs $35 it's likely not much better than a calculator. Anything more than that and it didn't actually cost $35. Either someone's eating the cost or the government is subsidizing it.
And for this sort of thing it's always smarter and cheaper to go with something off the shelf. The money wasted on the OLPC project would have been better finding an existing cheap computer. Better yet, that money should have been used improving the quality of schools and education. Computers aren't some kind of panacea. Internet access isn't some kind of magical wonder that will provide instant education. It's not going to help at all if you don't know what you're looking for. From my experience the first thing everyone goes for is social networking. You could drop a dead computer in front of a kid and they'll start playing with it instead of paying attention.
India would be better served buying $50-$100 desktops and keeping them locked away in labs at school and used only for computer-specific classes. Computers are awesome tools with a ton of potential when applied correctly. Otherwise they're nothing but a massive and expensive distraction which I'm convinced which I'm far more likely to be a distraction in the classroom.