One laptop per child

[electricland]

Via makinglight, the source of many good things, comes news of the $100 laptop. (I've heard about this before, but this is a nice summary, and it sounds like they're making progress.)

In November 2005, Nicholas Negroponte, head of the MIT Media Lab, unveiled a prototype of a laptop that could be sold -- in minimum orders of one million -- at a cool $100. While Negroponte now projects the price somewhat higher, around $110, he also sees the project's completion soon -- in late 2006.

How can a computer be manufactured so cheaply? According to the project's Web site, they will use "high-resolution black and white displays commonly found in inexpensive DVD players [that] can be used in bright sunlight -- at a cost of approximately $35." They also plan to save money by running open-source code like Linux and selling their computers in a minimum order of one million to governments.

The project, run by the nonprofit group One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) formed at Davos and backed by companies like Google, Red Hat, and Advanced Micro Devices, could have monumental consequences for the education and material improvement of poorer nations. Historically, technology facilitating the cheap and easy spread of information has often taken centuries to be directly seen in material progress -- from the printing press to "Poor Richard's Almanack" for example. But One Laptop Per Child, by connecting poor, rural farmers to everything from weather forecasts to educational resources to medical information, shows how this process can be sped up exponentially. Commentators have also suggested alternate uses of the OLPC laptops as cash registers and a method to document transactions or to provide the formal titles to land necessary for the poor to obtain loans.

You can visit the group's website for more info about the $100 laptop. (They have a wiki and everything!)

Perhaps not surprisingly, Bill Gates thinks it's a silly idea. (Makes me want to send them a cheque right now.)

Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates mocked a $100 laptop computer for developing countries being developed with the backing of rival Google Inc. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

...

"If you are going to go have people share the computer, get a broadband connection and have somebody there who can help support the user, geez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you're not sitting there cranking the thing while you're trying to type," Gates said.

(Then he said "You should by my new laptop, which will cost between $600 and $1000, instead!")

You know, although I curse Bill Gates on a regular basis, I think he's done a lot of good with his money -- the AIDS foundation and so on. I'm surprised to hear something so out of touch from him...

Anyway, it all reminded me of the National Farm Radio Forum, something my dad was involved with in his early days at the CBC:

The broadcasts were aired every Monday night from 1942-1965. The weekly themes of the broadcast were developed by a national planning group made up of farmers from across the country. Topics ranged from agricultural policy and international trade to community and family life. Families would gather in each others' homes, community halls, school houses or church basements to listen to the broadcast and discuss the issues presented. They were aided with a publication called the Farm Forum Guide which they received prior to the broadcast. The guide presented different sets of questions for both adults and youth to discuss. Following the discussion, the participants were encouraged to report to their Provincial Farm Forum Office the results of their discussion and these were tabulated and reported for five minutes of the following week's broadcast. This allowed the listeners to take part in their education by sharing views and ideas across the country.

Comments

[eniran.livejournal.com]

Have you even seen The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest?

Didn't think so, I don't think anyone other than my roomates and I have seen it.

Same idea.. they have to make a $99 computer. But theirs has lasers and stuff.