Two quotes for "the day that's in it"

[dianeduane]

Stand them next to each other and see which one you like better. I know the one that I prefer. (And not just because the source was Irish, either.)

Quote 1:

"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..."

Quote 2:

"Some men see things as they are and say why - I dream things that never were and say why not."

Footnote: "...The $100 laptop [for developing countries] running on a free Linux operating system -- not on Microsoft Windows -- is being built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's media guru Nicholas Negroponte with support from Microsoft rival, search giant Google. ...Some of the low-cost devices are expected to include a hand-cranked generator so that they can be charged-up in developing countries where electricity is often scarce. The generators are expected to yield about 10 minutes of computer use for each minute of cranking.

"...One Laptop Per Child, a non-profit organization created to further the cause of the $100 laptop, has said 5 million to 15 million units will be launched via pilot programs in China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand. The organization is expected to start rolling out the laptops in 2007."

Tags: computers, hand cranked, crank, developing countries, George Bernard Shaw, Bill Gates, $100 laptop, sounds like not all the cranks are on computers

Comments

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Bill Gates has definitely shot himself in the foot with that one, it's being very widely spread and every organisation with anything to do with low-income families and societies has now been turned against him. Particularly since the cost of the computer is small compared to Office ($500), WinXP ($400) and the other Windows applications he thinks are necessary for a "decent computer".

(As for a machine where a minute of cranking gives 10 minutes of work, I want one! Hook it to one of those model traction engines and have a steam powered computer...)