Taiwan company Quanta is selected by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab for producing the $100 laptop.
Nicholas Negroponte, the chairman of the MIT’s Media Lab, also chairman of the One Laptop Per Child non-profit group said that the first $100 notebooks are expected to hit the market during the fourth quarter of next year.
Well the intention of boosting education and computer literacy in poorer countries might sound good, but is it the right decision? I doubt. For poor countries, $100 is not a small sum.. it would better use to fund for books and facilities if it is really for the good of the educations. Else using $100 to feed the children may seem more proper to spend on a ‘laptop’.
I have absolute doubt about how good the $100 laptop is.. is it really a laptop? For me it looks like an expensive toy.
“Mr. Negroponte has called it a $100 laptop — I think a more realistic title should be ‘the $100 gadget’..” said Intel chairman Craig Barrett.
It might sound like sour grape for Intel to have a new ‘competitor’, but at the meantime I will have to agree with them.. using megafunds to provide childrens with this piece of high tech gadget is not the best option for any 3rd world country to spend their money.
December 15th, 2005 at 4:24 pm
i thought that this should be a kids laptop…anyway $100 is cheap…..
December 15th, 2005 at 4:32 pm
Yes it is kids laptop, $100 = RM380 can be considered cheap if the laptop can really perform as a real laptop.
What I see is as said.. it’s just a piece of funky gadget.