Yet another reason to get angry with Bill...

[Duncan Anderson]

On Sunday, 19 March 2006 13:50, you wrote:
> Duncan Anderson wrote:
> > The laptop in question is a wind up job which does not require
> > electricity, so I think it is precisely those communities which would
> > benefit from it the most. Or should I assume that the great big yellow
> > handle in the picture on laptop.org is just for show? Another
> > rechargeable power source that the same people use for a variety of
> > things is car batteries.
> >
> > cheers
> > Duncan
>
> fair enough, i must not ahve looked at the picture properly. Seems the
> idea is a good one, but how much power can be supplied by winding a
> crank? How long would the laptop last?
>
I'm not sure how long a charge would last.
> Even so, those communities could not possible have the internet without
> electricity. An idea was suggested earlier that the communities could
> use a central wifi station or a cable network, but both would require
> power to opperate. The only real option for many communities woudl be
> solar power, but that is quite expensive at the moment.
The centralised wifi "hub" is achievable, because, typically(and here I am 
talking about South Africa) there is someone within a couple of kilometres 
who has electricity. 
>
> On top of that, $100 is not that much for a laptop (it is in fact
> ridiculously cheap as we all know) but it is beyond the means of many
> communities to buy even one. Lastly, $100 is a tiny sum for a laptop, so
> to get any reasonable profit, the company selling them would ahve to
> produce absolutely enourmous quantities, adn could nto afford to ahve
> any stock left over, because there is only one market, the developing
> worl (certain sections of it). How many companies would take the risk?
> WIf it did turn out to be nto immediately successful, would they just
> shut it down? How would the laptops be distributed, even if the project
> were to prove profitable and be maintained?
>
I think the OLPC campaign is aimed at getting the Governments to buy the 
laptops and issue them to all schoolgoing children. The governments in the 
Third World are often at a loss as to what to do with some of the money which 
gets donated to them by "First World" countries. (The politicians, 
unfortunately, are often more than happy to make the surplus funds 
disappear.)
> The idea of the laptop is very good in principle, whether it proves to
> be practical is still unclear.
>
> Sasha
I think it will be easier to implement than you imagine, but perhaps not as 
easily as some people think... ;-)

If I use my own country, South Africa, as an example, I think it would not be 
too difficult to implement the scheme. The SA Revenue Service(the tax people) 
are always boasting about how much money they are raking in through their 
efficiency. The national Lottery rakes in millions twice a week and it is 
fairly easy to get funding from them for this kind of project. 

The big obstacle here would be Microsoft, who have invested a lot in training 
schemes for underprivileged young people, with a view to turning them into 
diligent brainwashed Windows victims, thus ensuring that a future market 
exists for their products. Just one of their TV adverts would pay for at 
least a hundred or two of these laptops.

cheers
Duncan

		
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