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U.N. Lends Backing to the $100 Laptop

Posted by Zonk on Thu Jan 26, 2006 02:46 PM
from the transformers-roll-out dept.
Government News Technology Politics
willki wrote to mention an AP story stating that The United Nations has pledged support to the $100 Laptop. From the article: "Kemal Dervis, head of the U.N. Development Program, will sign a memorandum of understanding Saturday with Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of One Laptop per Child, on the $100 laptop project, at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. The program aims to ship 1 million units by the end of next year to sell to governments at cost for distribution to school children and teachers. UNDP will work with Negroponte's organization to deliver 'technology and resources to targeted schools in the least developed countries,' the U.N. agency said in a statement."
+ -
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  • Keyboard Layout (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Azadre (632442) on Thursday January 26 2006, @02:49PM (#14571423)
    Will the $100 Notebook ship with the QWERTY Keyboard or will it be regional? (Arabesque, Hindi, Cryllic?)

  • How many of these things... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by IAAP (937607) on Thursday January 26 2006, @02:51PM (#14571452)
    I wonder, will actually make it to their intended market ?

    The aim is to have governments or donors buy them and give full ownership to the children.

    I'm going to be real curious as to the after market value of these things. If it goes above $100, you can bet that those kids won't be getting them.

    The devices will be lime green in color, with a yellow hand crank, to make them appealing to children and, so the thinking goes, to fend off potential thieves.

    So, if I paint a Ferrari lime green and put a hand crank on it, nobody will steal it?

  • Pay to clean up the governments in these regions by bringing in consultants to train new police forces, etc. and then encourage 1st world investors to invest in the infrastructure. This approach is starting to work in some of the small Eastern European countries like Macedonia where former US agents train their national police forces to use American standards and procedures. Or how about a food aid plan where they buy the native crops first and then hire locals (with 1st world military oversight) to prepare

  • More Good Intentions? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mpapet (761907) on Thursday January 26 2006, @02:56PM (#14571543) Homepage
    It's good for the project to get the thumbs up from the U.N. but I have alot of difficulty with the overall concept of delivering technology to populations that are having trouble getting their basic biological needs met.

    Maybe they have the food/water/basic education working but widespread corruption keeps the country poor. Do you see where I'm going? How is this computer going to eliminate pervasive political/social problems or otherwise redistribute wealth?

    All of the boot-strapping capitalists will flame me for "denying others the opportunity to...." That would be avoiding my question.

    • Re:More Good Intentions? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Ryan C. (159039) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:04PM (#14571696)
      It won't cure corruption. But you can't cure corruption by spending money anyway, quite the opposite. Now empowering and educating the masses.... hey, that might work. As for restributing weath, that one is easy to see how it might work. Compare educated vs. uneducated incomes in any country.
      • You are assuming that empowering and educating requires a computer. It does not.

        You are assuming that the computer is somehow critical in the educational process when the opposite can be argued quite effectively.

        Would training the unwashed masses to use computers for the year 2020 Call Center staff raise the living standards in a country? I don't have a good answer either way...
        • I would choose water filters over a laptop any day.

          Bullshit. Billy Gates sticks his big Windows dick up your ass and all of a sudden a free computer's the most wonderful thing in the world. Or do you retract your fawning praise you made over Microsoft's charitable donations all those times in the past?

  • Educational Material? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by no_opinion (148098) on Thursday January 26 2006, @02:58PM (#14571579)
    Originally I was a big fan of this concept, but I'm now skeptical since I've yet to see anything on the most important part of this project, namely the educational materials that will run on or be made available via the laptop. Providing Squeak is not sufficient. What material will help kids learn to read/type, basic math, history, art, etc.? Why has there been no mention of that?

    And for those of you who would link to wikipedia, etc., that's not a suitable starting place for young kids. Who is supplying the basic educational material the laptop recipients will need to get started?

  • New Campaign Slogan (Score:3, Funny)

    by denverradiosucks (653647) on Thursday January 26 2006, @02:59PM (#14571607) Homepage
    No Child Left Behind . . . . . Without a Laptop

  • Bad Idea (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gasmonso (929871) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:00PM (#14571623) Homepage

    With high tech countries like the US performing so poorly in math/science and just about everything else... why on earth would we unleash this on poor nations? Would they be better of with a $100 device that makes clean drinking water? I mean there has to be something better to put all this effort towards. I understand its a noble cause, but I think its misdirected.

    http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]
  • Shouldn't we focus of give everychild in the UNITED STATES/EU a laptop BEFORE we give a massive amount of funds that will be stolen by warlords. Billings, Montana [billingsbulletin.com]
    • I can't help but cringe at this attitude. Our world is getting smaller and smaller each day. With connectivity to the farthest reaches of our planet at our fingertips, just about everybody is our neighbour. We chat to our friends in other timezones more often than we talk to the guy who lives next door. With this in mind, what makes your geograpically proximate citizens in the USA or EU any more deserving of the technology than those who weren't priviledged to have been born to the right country?

  • How about for the geeks? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tktk (540564) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:02PM (#14571660)
    The $100 laptop is being sold at cost right? I'm sure there are geeks out there who would be willing to pay $200 or more for something like this to hack.

  • Big failure or big success (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MikeURL (890801) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:02PM (#14571661) Journal
    This is one of those projects that people will either laugh at in 10 years or look back on with awe and respect. It could really go either way. On the one hand it could just be that these children are simply not ready and these laptops will be sold where possible for food and other things. However, it is also possible that this project sparks the dormant imagination of kids trapped in poverty and sets them free.

    A CRITICAL piece of this is whether they will also roll out free wifi access to the internet. Without that I'll go ahead and predict dismal failure right now. The only way this could become a world changing phenomenon if if they also come with free internet access.
    • I think the only thing of value that will come out of this project is the notion that the USD 100 price point breaks a psychological barrier which makes people think "wow, that's cheap -- we could give one to ANYONE!"

      Otherwise, I just don't see how these people who know nothing about manufacturing and operations can just waltz in and accomplish what a 100 billion a year industry can't. Everyone in the industry is ALREADY focused on making laptops as cheap and plentiful as possible. If they do eventually g

      • No one in the industry is attempting quite the same thing at all. What the MIT project is attempting to do is to create new technology that compromises between performance and cost. In order to drive cost down, significant computing performance is lost.

        I bet you were imagining $100 laptops that were exactly the same as the laptops we have now. That's what I get from your statement "Everyone in the industry is ALREADY focused on making laptops as cheap and plentiful as possible". That is quite wrong. Th
  • Make Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] or another Dictionary the default home page and then people can immediately start searching and learning about the world.

  • Pessimism is unwaranted (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Oldsmobile (930596) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:09PM (#14571760) Journal
    I think one reason people on Slashdot have such a pessimistic view of the $100 laptop, is the images that have been conjured up by Negroponte and co. Mostly extremely poor children living in some jungle village somewhere.

    In reality, these laptops would probably be used by the urban poor and working class or those in well developed rural areas in rapidly developing countries. I have been to Fujian porvince in China, stood in a rice field and then used the internet, in a small village composed of mostly really old windowless stone buildings.

    Urban infrastructure was near enough to provide internet and electricity to those who could afford it, but even so, people were very poor. This is the kind of setting I can easily see the laptop coming to its own. Those people were poor enough so as not to be able to afford good educational material, but can sustain themselves and would not benefit from food or whatever Slashdotters are offering instead of laptops.

    I think those pessimistic views reflect an inherent ignorance about the world. The media often paints a rather bleak picture of the rest of the world, whereas most people get along fine, though could always use a little help.

  • Give a man a fish, (Score:5, Insightful)

    by qualico (731143) <kevin@qualico.ca> on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:12PM (#14571806) Homepage Journal
    The project: http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ [mit.edu]

    It might seem a bad idea to offer laptops over water, food and shelter, especially to governments/organizations, who in the past have held donations at ransom or misappropriated funds.

    However, one can only hope, there are some smarter distribution plans this time.
    As to the value;

    Give a man a fish and feed him for a day...
    Teach a man how to fish, and feed him for a lifetime.

    Best to think of the project in these terms, no?
    • This is actually a brilliant and cheap thing to distribute.

      These things are made out of plastic and silicon some of the cheapest materials we have.

      They are largely built by machinery and mass produced.

      They are mainly based on old technology so they don't require a lot of research.

      Basically these are some of the most useful and cheap things they can be distributing.
  • What OS is going to be on these $100.00 laptops?
  • ...was not food and not freedom... the key was education and information.
    Giving people food fixes the problem for a short time, they will be hungry again in a week, giving them tools nessesary for groving their own food fixes the problem permanently. Starting with the children is a very smart move, they learn quicker and do not have the limitations (and bad habits) their parents has learned from their parents...
    I do however still not understand why mr. Negroponte don't want to sell these laptops on the free
  • They won't even *sell* them. They'll only give laptops to institutions in the developing world.

    But me, and many others want one. The end result is that because of artificial scarcity the market value of the laptop will be well above $100, and there'll be a strong incentive for whoever is a school-admin in those countries, to sell those things. Not a good thing.

    Why not just sell them in quantities of 1000 to whoever pays the price, so all of us Geode/Linux fans can get one?

    *pfft, stupid non-capitalists*
  • That the U.N. would support a socialist program for handing out laptops that were designed by a university professor. I'm not saying that the proponents of this idea do not have their hearts in the right place, but lets be honest, it is what it is. Maybe this time it will work. I hope the program is successful, I'm just a little skeptical about these kind of largescale government sponsored give aways. This was tried in the Soviet Union for years and years. What happens? Well, the average Soviet spent more t

  • The UN is funding this? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by That's Unpossible! (722232) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:42PM (#14572232)
    I am not going to take a position yet on how well these laptops are going to work out. However, the fact that they are now going to be distributed by governments, paid for with government funds, means that market economics and reality will get shoved aside for politics... this is never a good thing. Especially with the track record of the UN and corruption.

    Secondly, I really take offense with the notion that "the UN" is backing the laptop. The UN is primarily funded by the USA. They take up a sizeable portion of valuable real estate on US land. And the US government gets funded by "non-voluntary contributions" from US citizens. Therefore, the title should read, US Citizens Backing the $100 Laptop (Involuntarily). The distinction is important. It's very easy to spend other people's money on ideas which may not be the best use of the funds.

    (Sorry, just got done spending about 3 days working on my taxes, sending uncle sam and arnie $20,000 of my hard earned, so they can put about 1% of it to good use, and blow the rest on politics and vote-buying.)

  • Here's hoping for success... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by posterlogo (943853) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:42PM (#14572233)
    This project has a chance to work and I believe it will. In many instances where limited technology resources have been introduced into 3rd-world countries for the commone people, they have always risen to the challenge of accepting and integrating it. (Eg. cell phone ladies in India). If you think all these people can handle or need or want is another dosage of food, you are grossly underestimating them. They are just like any other people in the world. We want our food and our internet, and *most* of us want to learn with an open mind. So do they. Just because many of them are malnourished or in poverty does not mean they will not appreciate a chance to educate themselves.

    If someone wants to use their talents to make this happen, I applaud it. One cannot dictate to other the form of charity they wish to participate in. There are many dedicated to feeding the malnourished. There are others who work towards better treatment of disease and preventing the spread thereof. Perhaps there are those who think passing out crackers is a higher priority than passing out condoms, but there are valid arguments for both. Only by taking a big picture approach can the third world nations be granted the tools to bring themselves out of poverty. This laptop program is a commendable step in the right direction, and only one of many neccessary.

  • On the laptop keyboard there is a windows key perhaps MIT have switched to the dark side!

  • Let 1st world users sponsor them (Score:3, Interesting)

    by guard952 (768434) on Thursday January 26 2006, @04:07PM (#14572560) Homepage
    Seriously, sell these $100 laptops over here for $200. Every laptop purchased also buys one for a poor child on the other side of the economy scale. I'm sure $200 is about right for the "my first computer" age group. Or those who want a cheap lappy for email or aspiring authors. Also sell a solar panel as an accessory and all the greenies would go for it too!

  • Lets not be cynical (Score:3, Informative)

    by tobby (229444) on Thursday January 26 2006, @04:49PM (#14573060)
    The poverty argument is akin to saying because there are poor people in the world we should disband NASA. Clearly economics is not a strongpoint with some posters. This is a fantastic, positive and inspiring initiative by Nicholas Negroponte and its disheartening to see so much cynisism on slashdot. One would think slashdotters would be at the forefront championing the cause.

    Instead we have shortsighted speculation about its uses betraying an unbelievable ignorance of our own experience with technology. You can bet recipients will find creative and innovative ways to enrich and improve their lives.

    The only problem will be distribution and ensuring the laptops ends up in the hands on the intended recepients which is a perennial problem in developing countries. And if there is demand for these laptops in first world as has already been displayed in some of the posts you can bet an active blackmarket will thrive to divert them back to the first world.

  • What is the big deal?!?!?! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Belial6 (794905) on Thursday January 26 2006, @05:33PM (#14573575) Homepage
    Oooooo....a $100 laptop!!! Big deal. Here is everything you need to put together a perfectly capable $100 laptop today.

    Battary Powered Monitor (Item# E21591) = $33.12 [qvc.com]
    6v Battary powerd Computer that has a HUGE library of educational/business/entertainment software = $24.99 [amazon.com]
    Hand crank generator for charging the battaries = $39.95 [dynaco.com]
    Total = $98.06

    Now if I can find all of the components to put together a $100 laptop in 15 minutes, I'm sure someone smarter than me could do it better. This is $100 with a huge amount of waste. Extra light, built in radio, siren, and compass. Not to mention the cost that was added for retail profit, and the cost of putting together three seperate packages.

    Some may whine that 'It's only an 8-bit computer' or 'It's already outdated'. Well, the $100 laptops that are being proposed are propriotary machines that are also very outdated today. With a C-64 based laptop, at least the end users would have access to actual software. I think these people would be perfectly happy having the standard of living we had in the 80's, and that is what the C-64 would bring.

    What this tells me is that there are some people out there that are going to try to make a lot of money by asking for dontation that are way out of line for what they are providing.
    • Certainly, but consider this: while money can be moved from project to project, the unique drive, vision, and skillset posessed by those guys from MIT who led this project are less portable.

      It required strong leadership to get the project off the ground and through the UN. It is probably not likely that the same guys could have found a solution within their area of expertise to those other problems you mentioned. So, while those problems might be worse, and efforts to solve them might be in more need of
      • What success? Not a single laptop has been made! There's not one manufacturer that has agreed that this can even be done for $100! This is pure, unadulterated vaporware. They've found a company that has agreed to look into it to see if it's possible. That's it!

        The only thing that the organizers have succeeded in doing is whipping the geek media into a frenzy.

        But, while we're on the subject, I'm working on building a car for developing countries that will have most of the features of modern cars, b

    • Re:Laptops are great, but... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Tweekster (949766) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:02PM (#14571659)
      something tells me you are a fool....

      this program is targeted for poverty stricken children but children that are above the point of survival..

      not everything is about the absolute worst off, some programs are *GASP* desigend to help other people too.

      basically those children you mentioned have nothing to do with this article or the focus of this device.

      the children that will greatly benefit are already going to some form of school (which will hopefully be made quite a bit better with some technology)

      different programs have different targets, this program is not targeting the child prostitutes and orphans of the world.
      • I think you're right and I would add to that:

        ...This program is designed to provide better schooling to children and therefore give them the opportunity to earn a living while not have to turn to prostitution or sweatshop labor.

    • Stomp the trolls right now (Score:5, Interesting)

      by porkThreeWays (895269) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:02PM (#14571663)
      Mkay. I see this type of troll everytime these stories come up. These laptops aren't for starving children with hanta on their death beds. These are for children who live in poor nations, but are otherwise living and doing ok. Countries that education is their next step to becoming a modernized country. Their governments are concerned with getting their own people education right now, not feeding starving children half way around the world. It wasn't long ago they were the starving ones. You act as if the money would go to one or the other. That's not the case. If the money weren't going towards these laptops, it'd probably go right into their education systems.

      And money isn't what those starving countries need. It's social order usually. America pays farmers for their food and buries it to control food prices. We have PLENTY of food to give away. Getting it in the hands of starving people is the problem. More often than not they will end up in the hands of warlords or destroyed. Throwing money at the problem isn't going to help those countries. Until dictator X is overthrown their people will continue to starve. And the UN isn't about raiding countries to overthrow dictators.

    • Re:Laptops are great, but... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fiannaFailMan (702447) on Thursday January 26 2006, @03:06PM (#14571711) Journal
      You're responding to a post about a:

      ( ) Technical innovation in a developing country
      (*) Product shipped to a developing market
      ( ) General discussion about IT in the devbeloping world

      The location is:

      ( ) Africa
      ( ) India
      ( ) Bangladesh
      ( ) China
      ( ) Somewhere else in Asia
      ( ) South America
      ( ) Central America
      (*) Other unspecified

      You're objecting to it on the basis that:

      (*) Poverty hasn't been eliminated in that country yet
      ( ) American jobs will be lost

      Your argument is bogus because:

      ( ) Poverty hasn't been eliminated in the developed world either, that doesn't mean we should halt all technological research
      (*) This will not adversely affect any efforts to alleviate poverty
      (*) This will help to alleviate poverty
      ( ) Poverty in that country isn't as widespread as you say it is
      ( ) The US does not have a divine right to keep all the cool jobs
    • Will be able to download the latest crappy music and get sued for it like the rest of the world.
    • In general, the number one thing you can do to help people in poor countries is improve education (particularly of girls/women). Pretty much every other positive social/economic outcome follows from this.

      Now, if you want to argue that there are more cost-effective ways of educating people in poor countries, then there may be valid points to make there. Is it easier to provide information via textbooks and teachers than laptops? Will this reduce the amount of money available for other education programs. I d
    • They will probably get hit by lawsuits in contries that have "free trade" deals. Send these to Mexico and acording to NAFTA companies selling computers there can block this beacause it "robs" them of potential profits.

      And those companies would have a pretty strong case too. If anything (in my opinion, of course), Mexico needs more capitalism and a smaller government.
    • This is for poor-but-fed areas, not war-torn mad max-ish wastelands.
      • It's funny you mentioned that. I was just thinking of the military uses of a hand powered laptop. No need to recharde batteries, no need for generators, etc... Perfect for the War Lord on the Go (R).

        Warlord? Pah. I'll take on a Warlord any day of the week and pwnz! I play on King, and only lay off Emperor 'cos the cheating AI pisses me right off.

        * pulls out four 1993-vintage double-density floppies, grabs a Third World Kiddie laptop and fires up Civ 1 *

        My words are backed with NUCLEAR WEAPONS, dammit!

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