Intel's Chairman doesn't have to worry about literacy, education and the role of technology in third world countries, although he probably should.

Do I remember that green is the colour of death, in Arab societies? Is lime green exempt?

no doubt its a cool thing, but think how many books , teaching and medicine supplies you could buy for $100 per kid.

First things first- schools with a roofs, books and teachers, and medical needs met.

$100 is cheap to us, but its still a lot of money to developing countries and communities. the wind up radio was a fantastic idea though.

Green is usually the colour of Islam and depending on your interpretation, the colour of paradise (people are supposed to wear it in Paradise) or Mohammed's cloak/turban. It was also used as a banner for the first Islamic armies and is symbolic of nature.

[Edited on Dec 14, 2005 by Joual]

Think about the literacy impact of $100 laptops in poorer parts of 'developed' countries! now we are talking IMPACT

"Could" is the operative word. I think that the intention is to price it at the point where every community can afford one. And I think Nicholas Negroponte is right, partly because there will be much more awareness of things like the Darfur genocides when every village has a blogger.
I'd like to see governments all over signing up for these. Preferably with Western aid.

And if it's open-source, one result will be more kids with technical savvy. Which is good.

I think its is open source, Apple offered to licence its OS for free to every unit, but was declined because it wasnt open source- and that would be a draw back

Have you ever actually been to the third world?

I think 100$ per kid--regardless of other obvious expenses--is a great long term investment for a poor society. Information leads to power, which leads to (what I assume the MIT kids hoped would be) countries with a greater ability to sustain themselves in the future. Human resources are the greatest of them all.

sorry if ive offended you reprobate, but what sounds like a whizzi solve all idea to us- is in fact just a small start, to a huge problem. inter community communication is as waldo says a very important thing.

but the thought of 1 laptop to one kid- seems insulting when, in many areas in Africa, families work so hard to send just one of there kids to school. where there is limited money and school buildings and teachers and so school places.

where school supplies are stolen by rebels

1 or 2 laptops per school is an interesting idea, but getting the very basics right, is the only foundation to build from. $20 computers in 5 years, after putting down good foundations is maybe feasible.
i am talking here of education up to 13-15 not further education

your question is patronising, but the answer is yes

Patronizing, perhaps, but you still seem to view the problems of the world though a decidedly first world lens. The third world is not the same as being poor in the first world, and this program is not aimed at the poorest of the poor. The third world and poverty in the third world are not synonymous. This program is aimed at kids who do have education, but lack opportunity for advancement because their communities are too poor by global standards to afford non scalable infrastructure. A sack of rice in the US costs $5, in Indonesia or Central America it costs .20. Its scalable to cost of living and lower production costs. A laptop in the US costs ~$1500. In Indonesia or Central America, it still costs ~$1500 and is out of the reach of 95% of the populations there. In an increasingly technology and communication dependent society, entire nations are being left behind. The whole point of this program is not to vaccinate babies, its to give societies the tools to be on an equal footing with the rest of the world so that in a generation, they can make their own damn vaccines. Yes, food and medicine and schoolhouses are important, but without programs like this one, our children's children will still be sending aid to their children's children, which is not only not cost effective, but tragic.

Should I be looking forward to windup 419 scams now?

Thanks for telling me how i view the world- i was a bit unsure.

we will just have to see how the scheme takes off, but my money wont be directed at this scheme, there are bigger priorities. and for me the the poorest of the poor are that priority.

im not into these groups as a slanging match, so please dont tell me what i think. but i am however interested in your viewpoints, which are interesting to me and every one else.

man, i just want one of these sweet babies because it conserves electricity!