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.
Posted on 03/16/2006 7:43:46 AM PST by ShadowAce
The difference is that Gates is intending to make money here with a similar concept. And while I have no objections about his idea, he really should be laying off MIT's program at least until he decides to introduce a competing program.
I get the impression MIT seems to be aiming more towards a philanthropic nature--Petronski mentioned the prospect of selling these laptops in the U.S. with half the proceeds going to fund the program.
IMO, that would be necessary--otherwise how else do these small computers get to second and third-tier nations.
And in areas where even textbooks can be hard to come by, this seems to be a step to help educate the third-world.
ROTFLOL
And then some Moos will come in and blow it all up for Allah.
Harsh, very harsh ;)
Sounds as if Gates expects to be the center of attention all the time. Head too big for his hat syndrome.
You're not getting it, and neither do most westerners. The idea isn't to turn them into web surfers, it's to give them access to a new information source. A laptop is a LIBRARY. Do you know how many books and line diagrams you can store in 10Gb of space? Imagine handing one of these things to a tribal elder, and onboard they can find everything from the political history of their country, to farming and planting tips, to instructions on building safe water dams, drinking water filters, and for turning Thai lemongrass into mosquito repellent. You can store the complete works of Shakespeare in 10 megabytes of disk space (less if combined with a compressing FS), and the contents of an entire pickup load of books in a gigabyte. You don't NEED Internet access to make these things useful.
This is about teaching men to fish, and about giving them the knowledge to improve their own lives. It's not reasonable to put a 1000 volume "how to" library in every remote village on the planet. Handing them a $100 dollar laptop with the same information, on the other hand, is entirely doable.
I like yer tagline. Iffen I weren't so attached to mine, I'd swipe it in a NY minute.
I get it, you don't.
To begin with, assuming you can produce a bare-bones PC that is little more than a box capable of performing a POST test and grasping for an internet connection, where do you find such a connection in the wilds of New Guinea? How about in Bangladesh? How about inside the Congo?
If your answer is: someone will build it because there will now be millions with a PC requiring such an infrastructure, the next logical question is: who will build it? Is there the potential for a return on investment when your customer base has a yearly income calculated in rocks, chickens and deadly diseases?
By necessity then, the entities that will have to build such an infrastructure will be governments. Typically cash-strapped, politically-repressed, backwards totalitarian governments who will dictate how such devices connect to the international netweorks, whether such devices will be allowed to connect to those networks and, very often, just who will be granted the priveledge of owning the device. And even then, the people using them will be subjected to strict guidlines on what content is allowable or politically palatable. It would be worse with the UN in charge, and with westerners footing the bill (which hasn't been mentioned, but it's the only way this works).
A computer is simply more than a useful learning aid or productivity tool. With it comes the ability to disseminate information, and to peek at worlds beyond your immediate vicinity. Those kinds of possibilities are entirely too dangerous to some regimes. Just ask Google how it's recent content discussions with the PRC went if you need a clarification of what I mean.
Now assume that these things will be used as you imply: as teaching tools. Should everyone in the Third World manage to attain a decent level of computer literacy, what good does it do when you're a refugee? When your village can be wiped out by dysentary? When the tribe or sect over the next hill decides you are apostates, or wants your goats, and you have forfeited your right to live?
What you advocate, and what the makers of these machines are advocating, assumes that at some point, the entire world will just decide it's time to become civilized human beings, treat everyone nicely and provide them with all the goodies a civil utopia is supposed to have. Ain't gonna happen, PC or no.
Besides, there are already alternatives on the market: you have the same processing and communications capabilities with most cellphones these days. There is the iPod, capable of storing information for later perusal. PDA's are legion and many are internet-connectable. And the prices of these devices fall every day. This exercise is simply ACADEMIC.
Thank ya. I like to call 'em as I see 'em.
Imagine if computer hardware drops to the point where a computer is like a digital watch. What used to cost hundreds is now $1.
They even may become as disposable as star trek data padds.
Gates is behind the curve again.
I'll wait for the history of this to un-fold - but....
Think back a bit - a Brit came up with this neat idea, a shortwave set powered by a crank (Bayless) - why, the radio would transform Africa...all they needed was a bit of seed money.
Turns out they could not give them away - seems the 'poor starving and needy countries" wanted to tax the cr@p out of the imports, even where they were to be given away for free.
Largest user/buyer of the Baygen radio - white middle class gadget buffs in North America.
Go figure. Will history repeat itself...?
I am sure QWERTY is really big in the third world. Bill Gates is right, it needs to be visual based.
Yeah your right. Of course they have to be able to read, which may be a stretch. My understanding is that this is for children not tribal elders.
This is just another UN boondoggle. Just a way to spend our money so everyone can feel good. Better to spend the money on $100 worth of food and clothing for every child in the world. The other problem is anytime you just give stuff away it is not appreciated. Just how long do you think these things will be in working order?
Where is the server going to be that gives them wireless connections? At the school, that can't afford pencils and paper? Just silly and impractical.
Agree 100%. Until these cultures build up their own infrastructure and achieve a level of prosperity that alleviates their need to worry about basic survival, there simply is NO reason to give them cheap laptops. This scheme is nothing more than a flim-flam dreamed up by out-of-touch, self-absorbed ivory-tower elites that will cost American taxpayers plenty, and we shouldn't subsidize their stupidity.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.