Comments on: ‘The Failure of the $100 Laptop?’: Slashdot discussion based on Dvorak column

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:30:41 +0000

MacPaddy: Thanks for catching the goof, fixed. Want to volunteer as a copy editor or maybe donate money to hire one? Given the volume of copy I turn out each day, I’m amazed I don’t have more typos. Meanwhile I played CE with the F word. David

By: MacPaddy

MacPaddy — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:09:48 +0000

“become more literature”

The more you F up, the less people will listen to you.

By: alex dante

alex dante — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:59:13 +0000

If anyone is interested in playing around with the OLPC OS, there’s now a VM image with instructions on running it under VMWare Player available:

http://tuttlesvc.teacherhosting.com/wordpress/?p=251

By: Jim Scheppke

Jim Scheppke — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:00:13 +0000

Dvorak is making a “straw man” argument. Of course a laptop won’t do much for the most impoverished chidren of the 3rd world. That’s not Negroponte’s target. His target is the demographic that is above abject poverty but below being able to afford computers and broadband connections as they currently exist. In places like Brazil that is a huge demographic and one well worth targeting.

By: vinod ramasamy

vinod ramasamy — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:52:23 +0000

I dont think the decision to market these products are based on literacy rates of target countries .(It is probably driven by cost effectiveness of the product I guess).. …Or probably the product is not for the rural market itself …The level effectiveness of such product could be ascertained only when you know about the strategy of the developers…at present I am not in a position to comment on this …It would be great if you can shed some light on the strategy of these developers.

By: Branko Collin

Branko Collin — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 09:13:22 +0000

“It might be because of the basic fact that ppl in developing coutries need basic literacy before starting to use hightech instruments such as Lap top”

What do you suppose the literacy rates are in the target countries for this device?

By: vinod ramasamy

vinod ramasamy — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 08:22:35 +0000

Well…for some reason the concept of giving a laptop for improving the standard of living in poor, doesnt strike any chord within me…It might be because of the basic fact that ppl in developing coutries need basic literacy before starting to use hightech instruments such as Lap top…Moreover the $100/Laptop would still be costlier for ppl in developing nations…

So instead of distributing laptops it would be better if ppl start spreading computer literacy…a typical case in point is ITC’s Echoupal… which proved to be a succesfull initiative in India..

http://www.itcportal.com/agri_exports/agri_exports_new.html( please copy and paste this link in your Browser)

However, once the basic literacy is established, I believe the One Lap Top Per Child program would prove to be hugely effective….There are also initiatives in India such as Simputer…although I donno how succesfull it is currently…
use of internet and computers to hel farmers

By: Branko Collin

Branko Collin — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:44:49 +0000

“Dvorak is no dummy”

The jury is still out on that.

By: Cerebus

Cerebus — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:34:46 +0000

Dvorak’s business model is to regurgitate other people’s ideas in an inflammatory manner in order to generate hits from /. This is why I don’t bother with him.

However, the criticism he’s parroting has been shot down multiple times for the reasons you cite, as well as one other: Not everyone in the Third World lives in a dung hut. Whole nations in Africa live with electricity and cell phones, cars and toilets. *They* are the most likely beneficiaries, and the best targets for the device.