US$100.00 laptops for sale, just US$400.00 each
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http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2007/tc20070923_960941.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily
(...)the so-called $100 laptop is ready to go into production in October.(...)
(...)The computers, now called XO Laptops, will cost about $188 each to produce initially, nearly twice the original estimate; and, so far, not a single government has written a check.(...)
(...)That's why on Sept. 24, the OLPC announced a money-raising gambit called "Give 1 Get 1." Originally, the organization had no set plans to sell or distribute the computers in the U.S. Now it's hoping to capitalize on widespread interest from American gadget fans to raise enough money to pay for shipments of XO Laptops to four countries that are among the poorest of the poor: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, and Rwanda(...)
(...)Under Give 1 Get 1, which will run for two weeks starting Nov. 12, U.S. customers will be able to pay $399 to buy two laptops: one for themselves and one to be shipped to a child in one of those four countries(...)
I don't know about cambodja, but in Afghanistan the machines could probably fall on the hands of Talebans. They could also end up with rebels in Haiti or those guys in Rwanda who nearly extermined the whole of the Hutu ethnical group back in 1994 in Rwanda. But what really strikes me as odd is paying 400 bucks for a machine which used to be advertised as the hundred-dollar laptop.
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[quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]
I don't know about cambodja, but in Afghanistan the machines could probably fall on the hands of Talebans. They could also end up with rebels in Haiti or those guys in Rwanda who nearly extermined the whole of the Hutu ethnical group back in 1994 in Rwanda. But what really strikes me as odd is paying 400 bucks for a machine which used to be advertised as the hundred-dollar laptop.
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And what exactly would happen if the Talebans or the Hutu militias get hold of a OLPC? It's not exactly the kind of High-Tech you would use for weapons.
BTW: it was the Hutu militia who nearly exterminated the Tutsi, not the other way round.
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@ammoQ said:
[quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]
I don't know about cambodja, but in Afghanistan the machines could probably fall on the hands of Talebans. They could also end up with rebels in Haiti or those guys in Rwanda who nearly extermined the whole of the Hutu ethnical group back in 1994 in Rwanda. But what really strikes me as odd is paying 400 bucks for a machine which used to be advertised as the hundred-dollar laptop.
And what exactly would happen if the Talebans or the Hutu militias get hold of a OLPC? It's not exactly the kind of High-Tech you would use for weapons.
BTW: it was the Hutu militia who nearly exterminated the Tutsi, not the other way round.
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Imagine the horror! - hordes of mean-eyed Taleban coming atcha armed with cheap laptops. If they are anything like my old Sony, they will not only be useful for beating people over the head, but they can also dual-purpose as an incendiary device.
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It not about terrorists getting cheap toys for free. I was calling attention on the fact the the laps will probably end up with people other than the ones to whom they were meant to be given.
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[quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]
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It not about terrorists getting cheap toys for free. I was calling attention on the fact the the laps will probably end up with people other than the ones to whom they were meant to be given.
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Just like any other aid you send to poor countries. Dictators in Africa even "farm" starving people so they get lots of aid from the rich countries. Really helping them would cut the revenue stream.
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@ammoQ said:
[quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]
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It not about terrorists getting cheap toys for free. I was calling attention on the fact the the laps will probably end up with people other than the ones to whom they were meant to be given.
Just like any other aid you send to poor countries. Dictators in Africa even "farm" starving people so they get lots of aid from the rich countries. Really helping them would cut the revenue stream.
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This is very true - most of the "aid" sent to third world countries ends up in the hands of the rich, through the usual collection of pricing scams (you send them $500 to buy food, and the local plutocrats decide that a loaf of bread is selling for $500 today). Naturally, it never happens in the villages that the media visits.
However, it's not just the dictators. US-based corporations are responsible for a lot of it too. I doubt there are any multinational megacorps who don't have blood on their hands.
