New at Reason

December 20, 2005

Kerry Howley has the word on plans to saturate the developing world with $100 fruitcakes.

Comments

|12.20.05 @ 3:42PM|#

And how long will it be before we see some of these laptops end up in military units or some government minister's mansion?

|12.20.05 @ 3:50PM|#

Just what is it that third-world folks are supposed to do with a laptop and no internet connection? Write Word docs serializing their misery? Design spreadsheets that show how little food they have?

keith|12.20.05 @ 4:04PM|#

Just what is it that third-world folks are supposed to do with a laptop and no internet connection? Write Word docs serializing their misery? Design spreadsheets that show how little food they have?

Number 6, a terrorist playing Minesweeper is one less terrorist mucking about with real explosives.

|12.20.05 @ 4:17PM|#

Number 6,
They will be able to keep their checkbooks up to date and balanced.

|12.20.05 @ 4:19PM|#

CNN reports that the crank must be turned for an arm-straining 10 minutes to run Internet on the thing for a half hour.

Ignorant much?

"to run Internet on the thing"? Why not just go all the way and say "Intar-web"?

Leave the atrocious grammar aside. I want to know: Is it CNN or Reason that still doesn't know that the Internet isn't some program you load up from a floppy disk?

|12.20.05 @ 4:36PM|#

Actually I look forward to see what the end users end up turning these things into. I can see a bunch of hand crank battery chargers, a liquid crystal leveling shim and square plastic plates right off the top.

|12.20.05 @ 4:59PM|#

Is it CNN or Reason that still doesn't know that the Internet isn't some program you load up from a floppy disk?

I suspect: neither. Folks at CNN expect that's what YOU think. And that, honestly, is more depressing.

grylliade|12.20.05 @ 5:06PM|#

The Linux-based prototype, equipped with four USB ports and wireless broadband capability, sports a full-color display, flash memory, and a 500 mHz processor.

Wow, no wonder it's so cheap. I mean, one clock cycle every two seconds? How long does this thing take to render web pages?

Sorry, it's just that things like this bother me. For those who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, "m" is the metric prefix for milli, whereas "M" is the prefix for mega. There's a billionfold difference in the two. Computers run at 500 MHz, 500 million clock cycles per second. 500 mHz is half a clock cycle per second. It's a small thing, but it bothers me.

|12.20.05 @ 5:15PM|#

If they short-circuited the whole program and gave a hundred dollars to every household in the devloping world then kids could buy school supplies. In East Africa every "bookstore" is actually a stationary shop where the parents have to buy old-fashioned copybooks and pens so their kids can go to school. The school is free, but many children can't go because they can't afford school supplies. Or shoes, for that matter.

But, you know, the whole idea of government is to collect a little bit of money from all these impoverished households so you have a big pile of money for somebody's pet scheme.

I don't buy the logic that children who are illiterate can only be educated by laptops. Frankly, I'm not sure that children in the US need computers before they reach middle school. Most aid is misdirected, but simply hiring more teachers and giving the kids workbooks in the class would probably be a major advancement.

I have no doubt the receivers of the computers were happy to get them. They were free, after all, and they can probably be traded for something a little more useful. This last will only be cured by some oppressive government monitoring program to prevent unlawful commerce.

|12.20.05 @ 5:16PM|#

Two things come to mind.

1) If they get the mesh network capability working, they won't need the Internet, per se. One unit could communicate with the ad hoc network that any other unit in range belongs to. With the right software, at the very least this would give a safe channel of communication, especially in areas that don't exactly have a First Amendment.

2) Having some sort of technical expertise will be useful down the line for many of these people, whether they emmigrate or encounter some opportunity in their home countries.

Mike|12.20.05 @ 5:17PM|#

grylliade, Fixed that, thanks.

|12.20.05 @ 5:20PM|#

Michael Robertson, Chairman of Linux-distributor Linspire, is among the laptop's critics; he says the company's research indicates poor families will "not buy the cheapest computer available to them, but instead insist on getting a fully functioning computer."

This from a guy who was selling the cheap computers at Wal-Mart and which were incapable of running most of the software sold there.

|12.20.05 @ 5:22PM|#

On the other hand, most of these computers will never leave the hands of the local governments they'll be donated to. The top-down distribution is assinine.

|12.20.05 @ 5:22PM|#

Grr. Meant to write, "This from a guy who was selling the cheapest computers at Wal-Mart, computers which were incapable of running most of the software sold there."

|12.20.05 @ 5:35PM|#

Just what is it that third-world folks are supposed to do with a laptop and no internet connection?

Would an Internet connection help much?

ethiopiangirl.typad.com

January 1, 2006

Hello, everyone! This is my new blog! My name is Zemad. Please visit! I promise to update every day!

January 2, 2006

I am hungry.

January 3, 2006

too weak to use shift key. (could this be a sign that our civilization is coming to an end?)

January 4, 2006

found a grub!

January 5, 2006

dusty today.

January 6, 2006

sisters of mercy is my favorite band. so peppy! picks me up when i am feeling down. and andrew eldritch is so hawt!!!!

January 7, 2006

i finished the last of the grub today. hungry again.

January 8, 2006

mother died of starvation today.

i am so boorrrrrrred!!!!!!

January 9, 2006

I found another grub!

also, found out that the sisters of mercy will be playing in concert in city of addis adaba!

best day ever!!!!!

January 10, 2006

life is so unfair!!!!!!!!!

father died of starvation today. so did uncle iskar. now i have no one to drive me to see the sisters of mercy concert in addis adaba!

i am so depressed. i ate an entire half a grub in one sitting.

i don't care.

January 15, 2006

sorry about updates. too weak to type lately.

January 24, 2006

it is so lonely here.

January 26, 2006

i finally had a visitor to my blog who typed something in my "comments" section! his name is hakluyt

January 27, 2006

i have turned off my "comments" section.

January 28, 2006

orly

|12.20.05 @ 5:36PM|#

Eric: maybe this was the "research" he was alluding to. Even a CEO can learn from a marketing error.

grylliade|12.20.05 @ 5:36PM|#

grylliade, Fixed that, thanks.

Yes! We have nothing to gain but the world; we have nothing to lose but our chains. Geeks of the world, unite! �34� 0�� �337 $|{1��2!!!1!!11!

Thanks. I didn't mean to be snide in my original post, but I thought it was a bit humorous. :-)

|12.20.05 @ 5:38PM|#

Darn. It would have been better if I'd named the hypothetical blog "ethiopiangrrrrl."

grylliade|12.20.05 @ 5:39PM|#

too weak to use shift key. (could this be a sign that our civilization is coming to an end?)

How'd she get parentheses without using the shift key? Or question marks? Hmmmm? I think she's lying.

|12.20.05 @ 5:40PM|#

I really struggle to understand the sheer amount of hatred directed at these things. (A) I know that they're inferior to conventional PCs, but on the other hand, I constantly hear techies in the US carp about how the typical PC on the market today is vastly more powerful than 90%+ of users need. (B) Yes, it is a government program, but dishing out free computers seems vastly less harmful than collectivizing agriculture or plenty of other things they might be doing instead. (C) Even assuming that the vast majority of these computers are truly wasted (i.e., destroyed -- diversion to the black market doesn't equal waste), isn't something worthwhile still being accomplished in those situations where they end up in the hands of students who can use them? If they're being sold in lots of one million, then even if 95% of them are squandered, that's still 50,000 students receiving experience in the use of computers who may not otherwise have the opportunity.

|12.20.05 @ 5:41PM|#

Oops. "ethiopiangirl" is probably really a fat, bald 50-year-old guy in Ghana.

|12.20.05 @ 5:59PM|#

Stevo-We're all going to hell for laughing at that 'blog.'

Oh, and isn't Linspire just a commercial Linux distro? I wasn't aware that they sold hardware.

|12.20.05 @ 6:01PM|#

If they're being sold in lots of one million, then even if 95% of them are squandered, that's still 50,000 students receiving experience in the use of computers who may not otherwise have the opportunity.

But then the price per unsquandered PC becomes $2000

|12.20.05 @ 6:06PM|#

Yes, it is a government program, but dishing out free computers seems vastly less harmful than collectivizing agriculture or plenty of other things they might be doing instead.

Perhaps so, but I presume there's nothing stopping them from doing both so that argument doesn't work.

even if 95% of them are squandered, that's still 50,000 students receiving experience in the use of computers who may not otherwise have the opportunity.

This argument would justify the program simply on the basis that it does some good, but of course any proposed program will certainly do some good. The issue isn't whether there are benefits, but rather whether the benefits justify the costs. Can we achieve greater benefits and/or lower costs? For the reasons laid out in the article I'd say the answer is certainly yes. Assuming we are going to send anything, Kerry Howley has the right idea in saying "just send a check."

|12.20.05 @ 6:08PM|#

Ha ha ha...Stevo, that blog was grrreat.

Stevo-We're all going to hell for laughing at that 'blog.'

What Number 6 said. If I believed in hell.

|12.20.05 @ 6:20PM|#

As Kofi Annan attempted to demonstrate the laptop's ease of use at a conference in Tunis, the crank snapped off into his hand.

Gee, at first I really wanted an old-fashioned, retro hand-crank computer. Then I read this sentence. The computer sounds like a piece of crap.

|12.20.05 @ 6:27PM|#

What Number 6 said. If I believed in hell.

Uh-oh, that's double-damnation for you!

|12.20.05 @ 6:34PM|#

How'd she get parentheses without using the shift key? Or question marks? Hmmmm? I think she's lying.

dear grylliade, she used caps lock. technology has improved since my day. mehitabel sends her love and says cheerio my deario.

just a word from your pal archy

|12.20.05 @ 6:53PM|#

Um, caps lock only affects letters, Jennifer. Did you think that would slip past someone as pedantic as grylliade appears?

|12.20.05 @ 8:14PM|#

Would an Internet connection help much?
ethiopiangirl.typad.com

Actually, this scenario is not as silly as it seems. Via the BBC:
African bloggers find their voice

|12.20.05 @ 9:51PM|#

So will everyone have to synchronize their cranking to keep the mesh up?

|12.21.05 @ 12:13AM|#

First, I suspect that the many of people who could benefit the most from $100 laptops are people who have $100 to spend but not $1500 or so: Small business owners who want to modernize. Top-down distribution might yield some benefit if the laptops are given to high school and college students. But in many places the biggest educational concerns are still far more basic.

I'm sure that free distribution to families will yield some benefit, but I suspect that market allocation, and targeted distribution to qualified students, would yield much greater benefit.

Second, I did laugh at Stevo's sample blog, but only at the last 3 comments. Am I still going to hell?

|12.21.05 @ 1:16AM|#

This thing is targeted at schoolkids; but I have yet to see any convincing evidence that posession of technology in and of itself leads to better educational outcomes. Good, clear, creative communication can just as likely happen with pencil and paper as in an email. Or judging from internet forums, more likely.

|12.21.05 @ 2:11AM|#

Thoreau: most small business owners have access to electricity, at least part of the time. I agree that having cheap computers to sell in a bargain-conscious market could be useful to the customer...it also happens to be a good business plan. Funny how often it works out that way.

I stand by my prediction that whoever these computers are given to, they will migrate to the cities and the hand crank will be replaced by a locally-produced, aftermarket DC converter. The rural folk won't get one hundred dollars for them...they really would be better off with a cash payment. Not a check. The check-cashing fees are outrageous.

grylliade|12.21.05 @ 2:25AM|#

Um, caps lock only affects letters, Jennifer. Did you think that would slip past someone as pedantic as grylliade appears?

*blushes* Yeah, that was my first thought when I read Jennifer's comment. I decided it was too pedantic, though.

|12.21.05 @ 6:39AM|#

If a computar machine is primitive enough that it runs off a hand crank like a fucking Model T Ford, then it's primitive enough that the CAPS LOCK button works by locking the shift key down, somewhat like a manual typewriter.

|12.21.05 @ 8:48AM|#

I'm never making an "archy and mehitabel" joke here again. Pearls before swine and whatnot. Hmmph.

|12.21.05 @ 9:31AM|#

They're willing to take out loans and make sacrifices for the real thing rather than settle for a cheap imitation.

I take issue with these computers not being the "real thing." As far as getting real work done (word processing, spreadsheets, programming, solitare) these computers will get the job done. I still get more "work" done on my 233MHZ laptop that I bought for 10 bucks than a lot of people get done on their slick looking Ibooks. These stats just mean that 3rd worlders might not be playing the latest first person shooter anytime soon. But then again some might have the most realistic first person shooters in the world right outside their doors.

|12.22.05 @ 9:41AM|#

Say, do you think when archaeologists dig up these hand-cranked laptops in a couple of millennia that they'll think they were the earliest computers? "Hmmm, before they had the electrical grid, they used manually powered computers."

|12.22.05 @ 2:16PM|#

A prediction:

If and when these "cheap" computers start being given away to poor children, you will see a flourishing black market for hand-cranked green-phospho computers.