>>>>>>>>>>There is NO LAPTOP for $100.. You simply cannot produce it for that >>>>>>>>>>price as of today..>>>>>>
Satish, just googling got me so much. There are still many. My point is why go on a denial mode as this much is known to many ? I knew from newspaper accounts that intel has already made a PC which can run by connecting to a cycle dynamo. The 100 dollar tag was possible a year ago. Why not now ? I know how these hardware companies work. They make a processor redundant even before it reaches the end user. They criminally update their processors every 75 days. So, a person can keep a TV set for ten years, a car for 10 years, but a computer for not more than a year and a half at most. The OS giant will play hand in glove with these chip companies in not supporting the older processors in their newer versions. Technology! Damn rotten word. How will technology update itself exactly on the 75 th day of the previous release ? For all my office work, I find no difference between my 1996, pentium with W 95 to the present one with a giga hertz fast processor. The older hard disk of 1.7 GB is still not filled even after 11 years typing ! The lure of more space is all superfluous ! A genuine personal user cannot fill a 20 GB disc in 5 years. Only those movies and Video games need space. Now, let me make clear where I am coming to. Please ensure your laptop is not a victim of this criminal tendency of deliberately being pushed into oblivion necessitating a replacement. It should be future proof with an assured 10 year service life , continued spares supply and software support. Only a people's movement can assure such a product. Right now, except for the solace of Open source OS , your product is still in the grip of vultures like intel and AMD. I know the benefits this laptop will bring. First, it will cut the enormous need for wood that goes into making the books and notebooks. The student can go to school literally with an empty hand. The teacher and parents and student can all correspond thru mail. Plus, the internet, will give wings to the student's imagination. If my above fear is addressed, and the cost factor looked into, this will turn out to be a boon. All the best. harijan Venkat Intel Vs. The $100 Laptop For The Bottom of The Pyramid http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2006/03/intel_vs_the_10.html While there has been tons of coverage of the $100 laptop for rural Asian villages sponsored by famous Nicholas Negroponte, Intel is rolling out an alternative to that $100 PC that just might make more sense. Let me quote from the Intel release: Designed as a result of defining locally relevant computing solutions based on Intel technology, the Intel-powered Community PC platform is equipped to operate in a community setting while accommodating the varying environmental conditions prevalent in the country. Heres more from Intel: The new Intel-powered Community PC brings technology access to remote communities where weather and unreliable power compromise typical PCs. Many of these computers are expected to be used in Internet kiosk centers in villages across India. The kiosks, run by local entrepreneurs, provide access to online services such as e-Government forms, education and medical advice. The Community PC extends the benefits of personal computing to those who lack the access and the means to use technology. Intel did a great deal of ethnographic work in rural India and come up with a business model that differs widely from the Negroponte-backed $100 laptop. It expects local entrepreneurs to own and operate these internet kiosks. Intels approach is but one of several initiatives to get inexpensive computers and web-access into rural villages to link people to the web, markets, health and education. HP is working on a big project. And then, of course, there is the $100 laptop. It is time for a serious discussion on which approach is best. 100 dollar laptop hits bump http://wanttobeageek.blogspot.com/2007/05/100-laptop-hits-bump-intel.html The one laptop per child project has come into a bit of a problem. That problems name "Intel" the giant computer chip maker has anounced that it is to make a laptop for $200 (£100) in direct competition with the one laptop per child £100 laptop project. The "one laptop per child" project was set up to help bring technology to developing countries by producing a rugged opensource laptop for a mere £100 ($200) which would mean governments could provide these to every child in school aiding learning and the countries economies. Learn more about this and how to support them at www.laptop.org (note that although we too like the idea of a laptop for £100 they are not aiming to sell to people but countries as a whole, although in the future once production is ramped up they have rumoured they will be doing a buy one and donate one trial so keep an eye out). Now the charity has come accross a problem, this problem is called Intel, the one laptop project unfortunately for them, uses AMD chips a direct rival to Intel, this has it would appear have the effect of putting their back up. Intel have anounced the laptop but missed out the part where they are actually selling the things for a LOSS. The only real reason anyone can see for doing this is to effectively knock One Laptops version out of the water. Both Intel and Professor Negroponte's not for profit organisation, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), have developed a low cost, robust laptop aimed specifically at school children in the developing world. There are various differences in both the hardware and software, but Professor Negroponte believes the main problem is that his machine uses a processor designed by Intel's main competitor, AMD. "Intel and AMD fight viciously," he told CBS. "We're just sort of caught in the middle." Professor Negroponte says Intel has distributed marketing literature to governments with titles such as "the shortcomings of the One Laptop per Child approach", which outline the supposedly stronger points of the Classmate. Mr Barrett told CBS: "Someone at Intel was comparing the Classmate PC with another device being offered in the marketplace. That's the way our business works." He dismissed claims that Intel was trying to put OLPC out of business as "crazy". "There are lots of opportunities for us to work together," he said. Price drop Professor Negroponte's project is currently in a critical phase. Countries have until 31 May to place their orders for the first batch and will be able to purchase lots of 250,000. They will initially cost $176 (£90) but the eventual aim is to sell the machine to governments of developing countries for $100 (£50). Intel says it already has orders for "thousands" of Classmates, which currently cost over $200 (£100). Like the OLPC machine, Intel expects the price to eventually fall. The only difference is last time we looked Intel WAS NOT A CHARITY. One laptop effectively is, yes they are a business but their only reason to exist at present is to help developing countries as Intel themselves have said by printing statements in their literature they see this as just another money spinner for themselves. Not a very charitable company you will agree. We will have to see how this progresses but perhaps we should make our views known to intel and start supporting AMD.
