MIT's $100 laptop
November 04, 2005 ( geek )
I wrote an extended comment to a post in Slashdot and figured I'd duplicate it over here. To get the background, check out Laptop.media.mit.edu
Technology is not the answer to every problem.
Sure it is, you just have to frame the question differently. e.g.:
Problem: "Our school doesn't have a roof over it!
Answer: "You should have a fundraiser to buy roofing construction supplies and some alumni to volunteer labor"
Results: New roof for the school, community strengthening, cost of roof spread out among the entire community via the fundraiser.
Whatever. That might be cost effective, sustainable and useful. Really, you should say:
Problem: "Our school doesn't have a roof, we need CAD software, new computers and a trained IT specialist to help us design one!"
Answer: "Let us give your education ministry a loan from the IMF or DevBank to pursue a CAD-in-Schools project, delivering top-of-the-line CAD-capable desktop computers with the latest non-F/LOSS software on it, spending millions of loan-dollars that we'll have to repay later."
Results: New computers in every school which get ruined as they got delivered during the rainy season to schools with no roof.
But seriously. The problem of course is Negroponte can create buzz with a $100 laptop-for-every-child program, whereas "put a roof on every rural school" just doesn't quite get the same level of interest from most folk, despite the fact that the cost would be lower and benefits per cost much higher. Try arguing that for the value of ventilated pit latrines (or, gasp, running water) -- people blink at you, because they don't get the fact that that is a need for many schools in the developing world. Cheap computers, they grok.
This is not in defense, just explanation and frustration from my own experience.
Basically, I agree -- If you're gonna pony up $100US/child, lemme suggest, oh, maybe, a billion better projects you can direct that towards.
On the other hand, if you've got some of the basics, not having basic computing skills can be a real barrier in getting a good job. Current solutions (that I've seen enacted in programs!) are keyboards with a tiny lcd screen and palmOS for $200+, so a fully functional laptop with some made-for-3rd-world ruggedizing, solar/handcrank power, etc. concepts built in is a potentially valuable idea.
I find it interesting, however, that (according to http://laptop.media.mit.edu/):
"Please note that the $100 laptops--not yet in production--will not be available for sale. The laptops will only be distributed to schools directly through large government initiatives. "
I for one would pay twice the price to get a ruggedized, hand-crankable, low-end, paperback-book-sized Linux laptop. I smell something funny, economically speaking, going on here. Either the hardware cost will be at a loss and there's service/support/gov't contracting fees to balance it, or (as the website seems to indicate in the FAQ), it requires huge production runs to make it feasible, or possibly something else funny. I'd imagine the demand for these in the developed world would be reasonably high, so by doing this he's killing his profits that he could use to improve the design for the developing
world...
Posted by griffjon at November 4, 2005 02:10 PM
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From the BBC, backstory available here. Although the laptops will initially be available to government only, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is in talks with commercial manufacturers to make it available on the open market. To take part... [Read More]
Tracked on November 17, 2005 01:33 PM
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