crappy computers for the third world
That secular saint Nicholas Negroponte is planning to persuade third-world governments to give cheap computers, or very probably crappy computers, to children in the third world. Or rather, not exactly give...
"It's a grand idea and a daunting challenge: to create rugged, internet- and multimedia-capable laptop computers at a cost of $100 apiece.
That's right, the price of dinner for four at a moderately priced Manhattan restaurant can buy a Third World kid what Negroponte considers an essential tool for making it in the 21st century. The laptops would be mass-produced in orders of no smaller than 1 million units and bought by governments, which would distribute them."
I have a problem with this. Firstly, it's inevitable that these computers will be unattractive to the end users - nobody likes to be patronised and fobbed off with a 'toy' version of what the westerners are using. Africans never bought the Africar, which was a similar project; a rugged car for African conditions, designed from do-gooding rather than commercial principals. Where is it now?
Secondly, if I was a poor person in a poor country I hope I would complain loudly about having my government steal $100 from me - which would cause the same pain as, say, $5000 being similarly stolen from a first-worlder - and spend it on a laptop computer designed to be good for me.
To sum up, here are my predictions:
1. It will be released late - so late, in fact, that commercially available computers will probably overtake it in terms of value for money.
2. It will be technologically inappropriate in some obvious way. For example, it will probably not be capable of running many popular games, or won't have a DVD drive. The team admits that 'the machine will have a relatively slow processor and modest storage capacity paired with barebones software'.
3. It will cost much more than $100 to make. Danger signs are already present, including the temptation to use it as a testbed for new technology: it might use 'newly developed "electronic ink" or a novel rear-projected image display with a 12-inch screen'.
4. Nobody will want it. Anybody who wants a computer will yearn for a Thinkpad, a Vaio or even a Dell, and scrape together the money to get one.
This project is a boondoggle that will serve only to make Western do-gooders and third-world government officials feel good.
