$100 Laptop Takes Flight in Thailand

EmperorKagato writes "Nicholas Negroponte's project for every child to have a laptop will come true for over 500 students in Thailand. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expects each child to receive a laptop instead of books as the books will be provided electronically. The laptop, mentioned previously on Slashdot, will now be brought to children in Thailand in October and November, with hopes for future shipments to Nigeria, Brazil and Argentina in 2007." This story selected and edited by LinuxWorld editor for the day Saied Pinto.

Anxious to see them in action

[OakDragon]

I am anxious to see these laptops in action. I have heard a lot of criticism that rather than laptops, the poor children of the world need clean water and nutritious food first. This is, of course, true. But such criticism supposes that all the poor are living in mud and filth. Not true - some have their basic needs somewhat met, and perhaps education is next on the list of needs.

Laptops instead of books

[YrWrstNtmr]

each child to receive a laptop instead of books as the books will be provided electronically.
While good to get some tech in these kids hands, I can't help wondering about permanence. Without the printed page, past facts are easily changed to suit current attitudes. I know this isn't quite the case yet. But as we go farther down the road with ebooks, it will be a concern.

Who are we at war with today?

in the west

[steincastle]

we still prohibit children to use computers at schools, well mostly

Re:where can I order mine?

[88NoSoup4U88]

Yes, and I seriously wonder why, everytime (after the announcement of the 300$-project) this story has come up after that, the editor hasn't bothered to keep including the link to that.

When this project is brought up (and it had its share of /. frontpage-posts), I always see a lot of posts of "I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of them just for tinkering", and 300$ gives you AND good karma, and a very funny lil' computer.
By keeping to mention the 300-dollar deal, I think it's easy for the editors to keep people aware of this possibility, and do their little contribution to which is, imo, a very good start in helping the third world countries partially keep up with the rest of the world.

And yet, here in the US...

[HoboMaster]

Public school children are mostly prohibited from having laptops in class, many private schools only allow laptops with special permission, and the private schools that use laptops still force their students to deal with paper textbooks. What I want to know is, when do we get "a computer for every child" in the US?

Re:Anxious to see them in action

[88NoSoup4U88]

...and perhaps education is next on the list of needs. Very much agree with your post; I might even argue that education also helps in accomplishing the other necesities you pointed out (teaching them to fish, so to speak).

Re:Laptops instead of books

[Penguin Programmer]

Do you remember elementary school? The books you had access to at school were the ones that the school decided you should have access to. It's no harder for the school to say "only books that say ________ is evil are allowed" as it is to change e-books to say "_________ is evil."

I think this is a non-issue here.

Re:Laptops instead of books

[Kesch]

While good to get some tech in these kids hands, I can't help wondering about permanence. Without the printed page, past facts are easily changed to suit current attitudes. I know this isn't quite the case yet. But as we go farther down the road with ebooks, it will be a concern.

You my friend are suffering from a mild case of Tinfoil Hat Syndrome. Electronically stored text is easily as permanent as a dead tree version. (Digital storage medium lifetimes aside). A pdf on my computer will not change its facts to suit anyone's whims save my own. Now I do agree that we should be wary of DRM'ed ebooks as a means of reference material (too easy to lose the decoder in the long term and render it unable to be read). It wouldn't also be entirely paranoid (just mildly, some might even say 'healthy') to be wary of some ebooks on certain subjects that phone home for updates. (Or at least make sure the updates are documented and easy to verify.) Still, I just find it hard to believe that the sort of Orwellian control of ebook information you envision will ever be a huge threat.

Who are we at war with today?

Drugs and terrorism. There's also some unresolved issues in Iraq.

Re:Anxious to see them in action

[vga_init]

Right, but this is the way I see it: A lot of people blindly convert commidities into cash. If you consider the resources and labor that go into the production of electronics, you'll notice something--it's different! Electronics are made from plastics and metals in factories, by factory workers. Could these facilities produce food? Maybe...probably very poorly. Could these workers convert to managing a different kind of production? Sure, but they'd be less efficient!

Furthermore, the facilities and workers for producing such laptops are in place, and they themselves cannot benefit 3rd world children in terms of food and water and health care. But can they contribute? Yes, they can, and that $100 going in exchange for the production of those laptops is not equivalent to $100 dollars worth of food! If things are balanced right, the value of the machines will be right and will not outweigh money spent on other items such as food.

Food and water are essential, but it's unfair to say that the laptops would not be beneficial just as well. More pressing needs may exist, but every little thing helpful counts.

Re:Anxious to see them in action

[Locutus]

That's what I was wondering about when India made that statement about how they'd be better off spending money on schools and teachers. You got to wonder how some of those kid who are getting a decent education in India would react if they were told their schools can't purchase computers because a village with 10 kids needs a school and a teacher. THAT is effectively what they said when they dissed OLPC.

It really shouldn't be and all-or-nothing proposal and you might think that OLPC should start marketing toward some of the wealther businesses in India instead of the government. I guess the 1 million quantity could seem too large but for India?

And it would seem like wealth would be relative to certain hubs and decrease as one moved further away from say large cities. In this case, it would be a case of improving the education in the appropriate 'wealth ring' such that with education comes wealth and therefore, wealth eventually moves up a notch if OLPC can help in a particular 'wealth ring'. I probably didn't say that very clearly but the idea is that if OLPC can help improve the wealth just outside a hub/city, it'll also improve the wealth outside of that area. IMO

LoB
 

Re:Anxious to see them in action

[DieNadel]

This is completely true. I've taught at a poor comunity in South America whose members were able to provide for their basic needs, like water (pit) and food (familiar agriculture and livestock), but were clearly lacking in education.

The problem lies basically at bringing the information to them, and a laptop like this would create a path for the information to flow (it could even be preloaded with classes' material) and teaching means as well (it could have educational and interactive software).

I think that basic needs MUST be addressed first, but if you want these people to progress in the society, the only way to achieve this is through education.

Re:Untested tech = snakeoil

[fullmetal55]

hence the 500 unit real-world test environment... if this was a 5 million unit deployment... I'd understand this post having validity... but this is a 500 unit deployment... a real-world test... I don't understand your getting irritated calling this "snake oil" because it hasn't been tested... well, this article is a bunch of propaganda about the product, based around the 500 unit test. don't call it snake-oil yet. let the real-world test go through its paces before you get defensive...

Re:where can I order mine?

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is just dumb! Can you imagine the cool things you can do with a fully open hardware/software platform? For hobbyists, or instruction in school?

This is more than just giving poor countries affordable computers, it's ubiquitous computing. I mean, farmers can use this, hobbyists can use this. I could use this. They should let everyone buy one. The sales will help further their overall aims, as a well funded non-profit will be more capable of getting it out there to everyone.

Re:where can I order mine?

[Constantine Evans]

The deal has not, as far as I am aware, been discussed as a possibility officially. It is only a proposal made by unrelated people, and due to the wording of the pledge (signatories pledge to only purchase the laptop for $300, and only if over 100000 people sign by October), it is inconceivable that it will be successful except as an indication that there is interest in buying the laptops at an increased price.

Also, from the prices I have seen, $300 barely pays for two computers. It certainly won't pay for three - the laptops cost significantly more than $100 to build.

It would be a far better to discuss the possibility of buying the laptops at a greatly increased price (probably more around $500 or $600) directly with the project. If a show of support is necessary, then a petition on much more general terms would be far more useful (something like "I would be interested in buying one at a greatly increased price.").

Ebay

[Anonymous Coward]

About two days after delivery.

Re:Only 500

[rgravina]

This is a tired old argument. The idea ia that these children can have clean water, food, AND an education. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. This laptop not only provides them with electronic books, but also access to computer hardware, software and potentially the Internet. Just using computing as an example, using this laptop some of these kids might learn how to program, create great software and may eventually land themselves a place in a great university or a great job. I'd guess that the poor want direction in life and an opportunity to educate themselves, do interesting work and improve their lot in life as much (if not more) than the not-so-poor do. It's not *just* about food and water, even though of course these basic necessitiies need to be met. It's important to note that this laptop is aimed at countries, like Thailand, that have an infrastructure in place but are still relatively poor when compared to the US, most of Europe, Japan etc. There are many countries like this throuought Asia, Africa and South America that could really benefit form these laptops.