Gates Mocks $100 Laptop

[Eric]

Cmon, people want a laptop but don't have power? Perhaps instead of shoving a laptop in their hands they can use the $100 people will pay and help them with more important things like power..

or books.

[CrAz3D]

But the books on CD & then send a CD with the laptop?

But in all seriousness, foot pedal > hand crank.  It makes WAY more sense, you type with two hands while your feet dangle...use the feet to power.  Hook it up to a hard core geared pedaling system & you could have a good amount of power.

[iago]

hm.. I thought young children were the main target for these "computers."  The idea of a full grown adult sitting there cranking his laptop is humorous to me and I'd imagine it would be quite degrading for the person having to do it.  Picture someone like that sitting next to you in class... or even worse, a business meeting.  The use of man-power to energize small emergency equipment such as flashlights and radios is obviously useful because those things are often kept in storage and only used during emergency situations when light and emergency broadcasting provide a great deal of service.  What are you planning on doing with this computer during such a situation?  Play WoW through your unpowered WiFi router and modem? Calculate taxes?  There's plenty of reasons to hate Gates, but this isn't one of them, iago.

You obviously haven't read everything.  These aren't designed for business men who are in a meeting, these are designed for people in countries where they don't have access to electricity.  They are NOT designed for playing World of Warcraft, obviously. 

Who said anything about hating Gates here?  I think he said something stupid, that's all. 

Cmon, people want a laptop but don't have power? Perhaps instead of shoving a laptop in their hands they can use the $100 people will pay and help them with more important things like power..

or books.

Power is a lot more expensive.  And pressing CDs is faster and cheaper than printing books, so score another point for the little laptops. 

[ZeroX]

But the books on CD & then send a CD with the laptop?

But in all seriousness, foot pedal > hand crank.  It makes WAY more sense, you type with two hands while your feet dangle...use the feet to power.  Hook it up to a hard core geared pedaling system & you could have a good amount of power.

I think the whole idea of using self generate power is retarded. Why waste all that engery in pedaling and cranking while you can be doing better things? Like helping your economy out. Damn North korea.

[Sidoh]

I think the whole idea of using self generate power is retarded. Why waste all that engery in pedaling and cranking while you can be doing better things? Like helping your economy out. Damn North korea.

Ah.  So you can't see any value in learning material that could be displayed by these laptops?  You want third world countries to stay in the state their in?

[Warrior]

Cmon, people want a laptop but don't have power? Perhaps instead of shoving a laptop in their hands they can use the $100 people will pay and help them with more important things like power..

Look at the above example I gave.  Don't you think computers are useful in a classroom environment?  What about the schools that can't afford normal computers?  Sure, it's not a "cutting edge" project, but that doesn't mean it isn't an innovative/good idea.

No but if they are so "third world" then perhaps we should invest more money into giving them basic necessities before we even think about laptops. Maybe attack the problem at the root, perhaps how the government of theirs is run, rebuilding whatever economy they have left, etc.

[Sidoh]

No but if they are so "third world" then perhaps we should invest more money into giving them basic necessities before we even think about laptops. Maybe attack the problem at the root, perhaps how the government of theirs is run, rebuilding whatever economy they have left, etc.

Who said they or their government has to pay for them?

[zorm]

Yeah, that's a pretty good point.  I still think there will be a decent market for these, though.  A TI calculator is certainly more practical in most cases, but they're also less powerful.  Plus, they cost just about as much.

Yeah thats the whole good deal and such part about using TI calculators, I can't imagine they actually cost $100 to produce where as I'm rather sure this laptop is being sold at cost.

Honestly, how much money do you think this project is going to pull in?  It cost $11 Million just to pull a few hundred miles of unmuxed T1 lines in Colorado.

I did a quick google search and as near as I can tell the cost of laying fiber depends on the location. Consider the fact that an undeveloped country won't have tons of underground things so laying fiber should be insanely cheap.

To me having internet access and a real laptop would be a million times more useful than having 30 laptops that require handcranking...

[CrAz3D]

No but if they are so "third world" then perhaps we should invest more money into giving them basic necessities before we even think about laptops. Maybe attack the problem at the root, perhaps how the government of theirs is run, rebuilding whatever economy they have left, etc.

Who said they or their government has to pay for them?

Question isn't who pays, but more of a "wouldn't it be better to give them food?" kind of a thing.

[Warrior]

I didn't, could be other things associated with their government. For example, take Saddam when he dictated iraq, due to the way he lead the country, the people suffered from less than adequate nutrition and things like mass murders and raping.

[Sidoh]

I'd be interested to see actual figures, Zorm.

Who says we can't buy them a few of these and food?

[iago]

One of the reasons that the countries are poor (among other things, of course) is lack of education.  With laptops, the students will be exposed to books, and will have the opportunity to educate themselves.  Extra education would be a good thing, because when they grow up they will know enough to get or create a real job instead of just starving. 

Like I said, binding books is expensive, but pressing CDs is cheap. 

No but if they are so "third world" then perhaps we should invest more money into giving them basic necessities before we even think about laptops. Maybe attack the problem at the root, perhaps how the government of theirs is run, rebuilding whatever economy they have left, etc.

How are they going to overthrow their government if they don't understand what the problem is?  And how are they going to understand it without proper education?

Sure, there's the option of another country "liberating" them from their government.  But I would argue that the best way for a country to change its government is for its own citizens to overthrow it.  After all, the citizens know what they want more than a country across the ocean does. 

[Warrior]

No but if they are so "third world" then perhaps we should invest more money into giving them basic necessities before we even think about laptops. Maybe attack the problem at the root, perhaps how the government of theirs is run, rebuilding whatever economy they have left, etc.

How are they going to overthrow their government if they don't understand what the problem is?  And how are they going to understand it without proper education?

Sure, there's the option of another country "liberating" them from their government.  But I would argue that the best way for a country to change its government is for its own citizens to overthrow it.  After all, the citizens know what they want more than a country across the ocean does. 

[/quote]

The countries trying to help them should do the overthrowing, I mean if they REALLY want to help. Not give them some jack in the box laptop and expect them to automaticly become educated.

[Sidoh]

The countries trying to help them should do the overthrowing, I mean if they REALLY want to help. Not give them some jack in the box laptop and expect them to automaticly become educated.

Show me somewhere where anyone said these would automatically educate anyone.  You must agree that computers are a useful aid in the education process.

[MyndFyre]

How are they going to overthrow their government if they don't understand what the problem is?  And how are they going to understand it without proper education?

Sure, there's the option of another country "liberating" them from their government.  But I would argue that the best way for a country to change its government is for its own citizens to overthrow it.  After all, the citizens know what they want more than a country across the ocean does. 

We shouldn't get confused about how overthrowing duing the liberal revolution was and overthrowing now would be.  The US overthrew the British tyrants during the liberal (Locke) revolution, when they already had the ability to read and criticize government.  Comparing Fidel Castro or Saddam Hussein to the 17th and 18th century kings of England would be like comparing Adolf Hitler to Mohatma Ghandi.