Gates Mocks MIT's $100 Laptop

QuietLagoon writes 'Reuters is reporting that Bill Gates is making fun of the one laptop per child initiative to revolutionize how the world's children are educated. 'The last thing you want to do for a shared use computer is have it be something without a disk ... and with a tiny little screen,' Gates said at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum in suburban Washington. 'Hardware is a small part of the cost' of providing computing capabilities, he said, adding that the big costs come from network connectivity, applications and support. 'If you are going to go have people share the computer, get a broadband connection and have somebody there who can help support the user, geez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you're not sitting there cranking the thing while you're trying to type,' Gates said.'

The value of a dollar

[ExE122]

Well of course, its only a couple hundred dollars more... I could've easily afforded that when I was a kid and spent three years saving up for an $80 used nintendo console.

And in other news, victims of Hurricane Katrina have finally returned to New Orleans to find that places of business have shut down and their homes have been destroyed.

When asked how he felt about people that are homeless, Bill Gates commented, "Their house got destroyed? So why don't they just buy another one? Boy, some people are just stupid!"

Gates then proceded to laugh at a little boy who's family was on welfare. "He was so skinny! Why didn't he just eat something? Boy, some people are just stupid".

He then wiped his ass with a 100 dollar bill and lit it on fire in front of a blue-collar laborer.

For real

[gEvil (beta)]

For real. I mean, why hand-crank those things? Why don't they just plug them into the power outlets in the wall? I see about 6 or 7 outlets from where I'm sitting. I would assume that everyone everywhere else in the world has the exact same resources available to them that I do...

Re:I would criticize Gates..

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Yes, the fact that he wouldn't make any money on this laptop, when he previously suggested that windows would be a good idea, has nothing to do with his comments. His comments shouldn't be seen in this context at all. That would be wrong.

Said Gates...

[bcarl314]

'...geez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you're not sitting there cranking the thing while you're trying to type,' Gates said.'

You forgot to add "from his Windows CE powered PDA IM message"

Re:Throwing Stones

[tdemark]

'Hardware is a small part of the cost' of providing computing capabilities, he said

... a very small part, where Windows is concerned.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

The Bible offers the old fish cliche -- give a man a fish and he'll eat today, teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever

Pretty sure that's not from the Bible.

No, that was more, "teach a man to replicate fish...".

No Kidding

[KarateExplosions]

If these people are so damned impoverished, why don't they get off their lazy asses and go to the ATM machine and withdraw $200 in twenty dollar bills? And these children are starving to death? Here's an idea for them: Go to McDonalds and order a Double Quarater Pounder Extra Value Meal. That's, like, a half pound of meat. And as for these kids needing computers, I think it's high time they pulled themselves up by the bootstraps, went to newegg, and built a decent computer for around $500. Jesus, how else are they going to manage their stock portfolios?

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[include($dysmas)]

ive always prefered

give a man a match, his hand will be warm for 0.37 second. Set a man on fire he will be warm for the rest of his life.

back on topic "adding that the big costs come from network connectivity, applications and support." ... mostly your fault that mate, cheers.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

I couldn't agree with you more.

That's why I think all of the vaccination efforts around the world as such BS: people need to help themselves not wait for some handout from the rich, and if some of them die in the meantime, well, that makes it easier of the rest of the people around them. A multi-disease vaccination shot for under $5? Why? It will just teach people not to help themselves.

Ditto for clean water efforts, and, really, all public infrastructure projects. Infrastructure and the good health to use it doesn't create opportunities, people do.

Pretty much, other people are stupid and don't even know what's best for them, so I'm not going to make any efforts to help them at all until they start to get smart. The poor don't need help. They need a backbone.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[Smidge204]

-1 Troll? I'm pretty sure that's a Chinese proverb or somesuch. Unless someone can actually find a reference...

No, the version in the bible goes something like: "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, give a man religion and he'll starve to death while praying for fish."
=Smidge=

Re:Hypocrites

[mgblst]

Slashdot is not a "diversity of opinion".
 
Yes, it is. (I think I just proved my point!)

Windows 3W (3rd World Edition)

[eander315]

Gates is right. Don't give them some tiny, barely functional laptop. Give them one with a big screen to display the Blue Screen of Death. That will allow them to experience the 21st Century like the rest of us.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[Thud457]

That proverb has great poetry to it in the original Klingon.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[Scarletdown]

One I always liked was:

Give a man a fish, and he'll have fish for dinner. Teach him to fish, and you've just blown away your entire fuckin' marketbase.

(or something to that effect...)

It's IMPORTANT

[Mr. Lucas Brice]

I think it's important to provide kids in underpriveleged countries, like Nigeria, with cheap laptops so they can learn how to do 419 scams at an early age. The money stolen from Americans and Europeans can only help the local economies.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[include($dysmas)]

quick check on google yields a scary amount alternatives to that line ... one that jumped out

"Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day... Teach a man to fish and he'll bore you for a lifetime"

more funny to me due to personal experience maybe,

oh and : Gates your Wrong!! (see i am still ontopic)

Re:Of course he's mocking the idea

[Anonymous Coward]

"That screen isn't nearly big enough for BSOD!" - Bill Gates

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[Headcase88]

"give a man a fish, and he owes you a fish"

... and teach a man to fish, and he owes you royalties for each fish he catches.

... and if he teaches someone else to fish, take him to court with your army of laywers.

All this, of course, benefits society.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[Irish_Samurai]

I have a really kick ass bluetooth abacus.

Adage revisited...

[Glove d'OJ]

I have always preferred:

Build a man a fire, and he is warm today.

Set a man on fire, and he is warm for the rest of his life.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[Fennario]

"Education is not something you can squander, like a fish or money or even a temporary home."

Sure, just ask the Cornell French Lit major currently engaged in making your copies at Kinkos.

Oh!

[wonkavader]

Well, before this I thought, based on the fact that students in the States do WORSE when they have computers than when they don't, that this was a bad idea.

But now that I see Bill Gates doesn't like it.

So it now has my full endorsement.

Re:For real

[Anonymous Coward]

Simple. You don't have to hand crank them.

Just include a small electric motor, then you can plug that into the wall and have it turn the crank for you.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[kootsoop]

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man how to fish, and he'll ask if roe is on the exam.

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[Omestes]

My favorite, I think I culled it from here a long long time ago...

"Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you will not have to listen to his incessant whining about how hungry he is."

Re:Education starts only with opportunity

[jonaskoelker]

Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Try to teach a man to fish, and he'll complain that "I DON'T CARE!! You take take of catching fish! I mean, you're the sysadmin!"

As any fisherman will tell you...

[EmbeddedJanitor]

Give a man a fish and he'll go away. Teach him to fish and he'll steal your bait and tackle.