UPDATE – a $100 laptop for every schoolchild? Or not?
UPDATE!!
Here’s an update on the laptops – looks like we may not get them after-all:
Click here for the full article from tectonic.co.za:“According to MIT, the target price of $100 (or R653.66 at current conversion rates) should come down after the initial launch. Integrated prototypes of the Gen-1 laptop are expected in the third quarter of 2…
006, and manufacturing should start in the fourth quarter, with 10 to 15 million laptops expected to be shipped by the first quarter of 2007.
Recipients of the laptops will most likely include Brazil, Thailand, Egypt, the State of Massachusetts in the US, Cambodia, Costa Rica and hosts of the last WSIS forum, Tunisia. South Africa was initially included in the list as a recipient of 1 million laptops, but Fantus Mobu from Sita’s procurement department told INET Bridge that SA had no commitment to purchase the laptops. This is despite the fact that one of the MIT professors leading the project – professor of education and media technology, emeritus for MIT’s Media Laboratory, Seymour Papert – was born and educated in South Africa, and was an active member in the anti-apartheid movement.”
If anyone knows anymore on this – please do enlighten us….
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7 Oct
Thanks to Stoffel for this great story, the MIT have designed a $100 laptop for every school-going child in developing countries – SA has apparently ordered a whole bunch – Fabulous – Can you just imagine what this investment in our children’s education will do for our country – MIT and Google – You rock!
This summary is from THE ECONOMIST, however CLICK HERE for a full treatment from the BBC:
The idea is as audacious as it altruistic: provide a personal laptop computer to every schoolchild-particularly in the poorest parts of the world. The first step to making that happen is whittling the price down to $100. And that is the goal of a group of American techno-gurus led by Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the fabled MIT Media Lab. When he unveiled the idea at the World Economic Forum in January it seemed wildly ambitious. But surprisingly, it is starting to become a reality. Mr Negroponte plans to display the first prototype in November at a UN summit. Five countries- China, Brazil, Egypt, Thailand and South Africa-have said they will buy over 1m units each. Production is due to start in late 2006.
How is the group, called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), able to create a laptop so inexpensively? It is mainly a matter of cleverly combining existing technologies in new ways. The laptop will have a basic processor made by AMD, flash memory instead of a hard disk, will be powered by batteries or a hand-crank, and will run open-source software. The $100 laptop also puts all the components behind the screen, not under the keyboard, so there is no need for an expensive hinge. So far, OLPC has got the price down to around $130.
