[geeks] $100 One Laptop Per Child - grist for the mill

[Phil Stracchino]

Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:
> On Nov 18, 2006, at 7:12 PM, Phil Stracchino wrote:
>> Yeah.  $100 laptops, let alone satellite MP3 servers, are putting the
>> cart so far before the horse that the horse can't even see the cart.
>> The server's no use without the laptops, and for the price of the 
>> server
>> and those laptops they could have treadmill-powered generators, water
>> pumps, UV water sterilization systems to eliminate parasites and
>> bacteria from their drinking water....
> 
> No offense, but you know, there are cities in Africa where there is a 
> fledgling middle class and some entrepreneurs, and a smallish 
> professional class too.
> 
> There are probably over 100 million cell phones in use in Africa, right 
> now. (See http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0712-rhett_butler.html for 
> numbers thru to 2004).

Sure, I know.  Most of the people who already have cell phones probably
don't need a $100 laptop.  On the other hand, most of the villages out
in the middle of nowhere who have perhaps one phone for the whole
village probably have rather more important uses for a thousand bucks
than giving laptops to ten of the village's children.



-- 
 Same geek, same site, new location
 Phil Stracchino                     Landline: 603-429-0220
 phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net         Mobile: 603-216-7037
 Renaissance Man, Unix generalist, Perl hacker, Free Stater