An even better solution would be to adopt the "Avatar" route and have robotic avatars explore space under the control of guidance of sentients on Earth. In fact the drone operators hammering the Taliban in Af-Pak are the precursors to this.

God Forbid that NPTEL be the kind of content that is dished out through these tablets! The farmers -- if at all they were the target for this product -- would immediately throw away the tablets in desperation and frustration if they are forced to watch the kind of utterly boring and worthless trash that is dished out through these "IIT lectures". On the other hand, if the product is reliable and stable, then it can be a real force multiplier to the humble mobile phone that has changed the commercial and personal communication landscape of a large yet poor country and introduce a whole new category of users to the information and entertainment that is currently available to a small part of the population.

"Microsoft is participating in the fight against the very criminal element that Microsoft allowed to blossom." Just as the United States is now fighting against the Taliban and the Islamist terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan whom it once allowed, encouraged and paid money to, to blossom !

Because after every terrorist exploit, the security agencies make threatening noises about Skype (most favourite) followed by Gmail and then mail in general. How to explain to our dumbos that banning automobiles is no solution to hit-and-run accidents !

How difficult would it be to isolate a rogue country from the Internet ? Is it as difficult or harder than to enforce a trade embargo or an arms sanction -- both of which are legitimate tools in global diplomacy. Has there been any thought on these line ?

When I was finishing high school in Calcutta, India, my father insisted that i take a course in typing as being a typist was one of the few viable employment opportunities that existed. Glad to state that India has moved out of that zone of darkness but my touch typing skills are still a source of wonder to many of my younger "digit"-ally challenged colleagues !

Are android tablets, or rather chrome tablets, not a close equivalent of linux desktops ?

The ability to buy a product through a purchase order and have access to customer support is sometimes very important to large corporations. I had once used a legitimately downloaded PGP encryption product as key component of a complex Cash Management application in a global multinational bank but the biggest challenge in getting it accepted as a part of the solution was the lack of a purchase order. I remember the IT Head of the bank almost pleading with me to get a commercial product but because PGP had already been integrated with the system, the difficulty of a change was immense. I believe that the bank finally got someone do download PGP and sell it to the bank for $10 through an invoice before the row was settled !!

Believe me, as a not-so-expensive teacher in India, who has been unsuccessfully experimenting with Distance Education for quite some time, I can tell you that a watching a video is only one part of the story. The ability to feel the pulse of the audience, to take a difficult question and change the pace and style of the delivery are very important. Canned video is certainly better when nothing else is available but a human teacher cannot be replaced with a recording.