Saturday, June 25, 2005
The $100 Laptop: Will it Re-Define Education or Flop?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 11:00 AM
All that for $100? Seems too good to be true, but I don't think Nicholas Negroponte would be making claims that were unrealistic. If this can be achieved, it will certainly allow for some amazing educational opportunities in developing countries. Heck, for $100, I'd buy a few of them and leave them around the house in different rooms - especially if they're powered by a hand crank. In fact, they should sell them for $200 each in economically rich countries, and give $100 back to a village that needs it, thereby creating a 2 for 1 subsidy.
I thought this line was hilarious when talking about cutting the fat out of the laptop: "Two-thirds of their software is used to manage the other third, which mostly does the same functions nine different ways." :lol: That's sadly true - I installed Linux on an old machine and was amazed at how snappy it was compared to running Windows XP on the same box. The trade-off here is compatibility with the rest of the world, but if it's primarily a closed system with a fixed number of peripherals for the students to use (shared printers, etc.) it could work out quite nicely.