U.N. Lends Backing to the $100 Laptop

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."

How many of these things...

[IAAP]

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?

I have visions ...

[operagost]

... of laptops being sold on the black market or sitting on docks, held hostage by warlords. What will be done to avoid the corruption rampant in the U.N. and make sure these get to the people who need 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.

Okay, I understand that the Fisher-Price thing might not be too appealing to the average crook, but I figure even Toys'r'Us is robbed every now and then.

More Good Intentions?

[mpapet]

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:Laptops are great, but...

[jotok]

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 the money, the confluence of skills and drive and circumstance in this particular place & time have led to the success of this project, which incidentally is quite a good thing, so maybe show a little support, eh?

Bad Idea

[gasmonso]

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]

Wrong focus.

[cpearson]

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]

Re:Laptops are great, but...

[Tweekster]

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.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:More Good Intentions?

[Ryan C.]

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.

Re:Laptops are great, but...

[fiannaFailMan]

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

How about the basics first?

[jzarling]

Rather than giving children laptops, why dont we work to stabilize thier countrys by helping people become better farmers, teachers, doctors.
Just a thought.

Pessimism is unwaranted

[Oldsmobile]

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,

[qualico]

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?

The key to the industrial evolution in the west...

[Hymer]

...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 market, it would give the project both a competent user base and a much larger developer base.

Re:Give a man a fish,

[Deliveranc3]

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.

I'm not surprised

[ChrisGilliard]

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 than 2 hours a day waiting in line to get their food,car,soap,vodka,etc. Imagine that everything in your country was as innefficient as the dmv (department of motor vehicles). This is socialism. Again, hopefully these laptops make a great impact, but I will believe it when I see it.

Re:Stomp the trolls right now

[Anonymous Coward]

Education is the FIRST step to becoming a developed country, not a later step in the sequence. Take AIDS in Africa. If it wasn't believed that raping a virgin would cure you of AIDS, do you honestly believe that the epidemic would be as high? Or consider that Dalat women in India are dedicated to prostitution at under 10 years old. Do you honestly think that this is anything but education? Perhaps the developed world needs to get off its pompous ass and realize that education can be as simple as telling real people not to defecate within 25 metres of a well if they want clean water. Laptops are nice, but are NOT necessary and sufficient for education. $150 is approximately 50% of the annual income of 70% of the world's population.

The UN is funding this?

[That's Unpossible!]

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...

[posterlogo]

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.

50-50 contribution

[Anonymous Coward]

I gladly pay $200 or $300 for this laptop to donate one computer and keep one for me.

Completely Agree

[mistergin.net]

The UN is more than aware of the poverty situations in these developing countries and I can't imagine that those in charge of this operation would send a $100 laptop to someone who'd just as soon eat the motherboard for SOME sort of sustinance(sp?)... For those kids that only know of a life where they manually slave all day to earn the meager earnings that keep their crappy hut up, completely oblivious to the climate (socially, politically, etc.) around them, they're doomed to repeat history. Also, give an organization 100 million dollars and guess how much will actually end up being effective. Give an organization tons of lime green colored laptops, it stands to reason that you'll face a whole HELL of a lot less corruption. It's easy to misappropriate funds, food, and supplies. Something as tangible and as non-consumable as a lime green laptop filled with software for kids? Why bother - your crappy $400 pc does more. Just seems that even if parts of this plan fail, it will still stand to do MUCH more good. FP on slashdot, flame away lol :)

Re:I have visions ...

[Anonymous Coward]

So, do YOU have a better idea to avoid this happening ? If yes,
share with then! If no, shut the fuck up! It's easy to complain
when you can't do better.

To build a better world we must think hard and try every plausible
alternative. Living in a developed country wich you probably didn't
help build but only usufructed and only complaining about others
people _actions_ won't help anyone!

Re:Wrong focus.

[Timothy Chu]

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?

Re:What is the big deal?!?!?!

[Netssansfrontieres]

The HDL has to have extremely low power consumption (to enable, among other things, a human-power source). That excludes the baby CRTs this poster found.

It is also extremely, dangerously wrong to assert that this will be proprietary. The design is wedded to open source designs; the demo units are running a commercial (redhat) Linux distro. This is less, it is not at all, a way of bashing this vendor or that. Rather, the idea is this. Imagine the outcome of million laptops. Many, frankly, perhaps even most, will be underused (but never underestimate the hunger of the 'rest of the world' to join 'our world' via the Internet). Some modest number will really, truly have transformative educational experiences, by learning WITH computers. Another number, larger? smaller? will learn ABOUT computers, and will themselves join /. world, as enterpreneurs.

While Craig Barrett rails against the HDL as a 'gadget', it has higher compute-power targets than a 2000 - 2001 commercial laptop AND will run leaner OS and applications, likely (admittedly: TBD) yielding performance more akin to a 2003 - 2004 machine.

The poster also didn't note that: the HDL has to be a nearly sealed, highly rugged unit, capable of localization (e.g. keyboard replacement for local scripts). O, and it has to have USB ports and WiFi and ...

AND: the screen is expected to be sunlight readable, both to cut power consumption AND to enable the target children to be able to see vivid images in areas where daylight is the only reliable light source.

Now, as the poster observes, you can kluge something together for about the same price sans these attributes. That's not the point.

Re: Can I Eat Imaginative Food?

[Hosiah]

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?