Well, I received half a dozen copies of Tim Anderson's posting on the World Computer Exchange. [***Moderator's Note: Due to a server problem, multiple copies of this message were posted to the List. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.***] I have nothing against Timothy in person, and have in the past written positively about this project.
But maybe it's time for some critical questions to be asked. This approach kind of encourages us to think along business-as-usual lines. The West can go on 'consuming' computers in an irresponsible manner, at unsustainable levels, and "one man's junk is going to become another man's treasure". A nice thought.... What is really needed is a radical review not just of how we compute, but how we consume the world's resources, and what solutions are offered to whom. Some questions: 1. Has any study been done as to the impact of how long such computers actually serve in Third World locations? Are these being used effectively? Given the way hardware is made incompatible with that produced just two to three years back, aren't we fighting an uphill battle? How do we ensure computers are kept in a state of fair maintenance? 2. What is the impact of software going the bloatware way, which makes perfectly usable computers turn to junk due to the market-driven planned-obsolence model? This is surely true of Windows, and this is also getting to be increasingly true of the major distros of GNU/Linux (Red Hat/Mandrake), where we are getting big and bigger packages, in the name of keeping up in the race. Is someone thinking about this? Apart from the RULE project in Italy, one has not heard of building, say a KDE-Lite, for us poor cousins out here. (For that matter, it would serve everyone, and make fewer computers turn to 'junk' in the first place.) 3. What is the impact on recipients in the Third World? Is there no better and more sustainable way of getting access to PCs? Are such gift-horses appreciated well, or simply abused and misused by recipients, who feel they've got the PCs in an easy way anyway? 4. Is this only a question of hardware, or are other issues like software and syllabi equally important? In India, quite some schools have Microsoft-only syllabi. What are the long-term implications of this? 5. Finally, are we willing to ask inconvenient questions, or just take the easy way out and swim with the tide? No offence meant... Just that we could go ahead if we asked the tough questions. FN ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
